Education official involved in leading death squad in Diala

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: An education supervisor in Diala is involved in spearheading an armed cell specialized in carrying out assassinations in the province, a security source revealed on Friday. “Results of investigations by Iraqi forces confirmed the involvement of education supervisor Abbas Ashour, an employee for the Diala Education Department, in leading an 11-man armed squad in al-Khalis district, (15 km) north of Baaquba city,” the source otld IraqiNews.com news agency. He noted that members of the cell, which belongs to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), had been arrested last week on charges of involvement in assassination of a number of officials from security agencies. The arrested men were also involved in explosive attacks in the district during the past few months, the recent of which was the one that targeted an Iraqi army patrol with an improvised explosive device (IED), leaving Cap. Firas Noman killed and three others wounded. Baaquba, the capital city of the volatile province of Diala, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. AmR (P) 47