Two armed organization commanders arrested in Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com – A Joint Iraqi-U.S. force has managed to detain two leaders of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq,” in an operation close to a village south of northern Iraq ’s oil-rich city of Kirkuk , a city Police Director said on Sunday.   “A joint force from the Police Directorate of Townships & Villages, supported by the U.S. forces have carried out an air-landing in al-Safra village, 45 kms to the southwest of Kirkuk, arresting two of the leaders of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq,’ Zaid Khalaf Hussein and Dhafer Khalaf Hussein,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told IraqiNews.com news agency.   He said the two detained persons “were wanted according to Article-4 Terrorism, and had been inhabitants of Diala Province , who had escaped from justice and settled in the said village.”   “Zaid had been a colonel in Iraq ’s former Military Intelligence Body, whilst Dhafer was an officer in the Special Security Body in the former Presidency Diwan (office),” he stressed.   Qader said that both detainees “had been prisoners in the U.S. Puka Prison, carrying false identities and names, and had been behind dozens of corruption acts, killing and abductions in Diala Province .”   Kirkuk is 250 kms to the northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad .   IT / SKH   649