Balad police foil suicide attack

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: The Balad district police seized and defused a car bomb after shooting and wounding its driver on Sunday, according to a security source in Salah al-Din province. “A suicide bomber was planning to detonate his car rigged with explosives in the area of al-Mahatta, (5 km) northern Balad, but policemen opened fire and wounded him,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The police arrested the man and seized and dismantled the explosive vehicle,” the source added. Balad lies 90 km southern Tikrit. He noted that the operation relied on intelligence tip-offs about plans to target the area with a car bomb. “A force from Balad district police set an ambush and successfully seized it. Bomb squad personnel later managed to defuse it”. The source added that the wounded bomber is now receiving treatment at the emergency war of Balad Hospital. Tikrit, the capital city of the province of Salah al-Din, lies 175 km north of Baghdad. AmR (P) 47