2 al-Qaeda members arrested in Wassit

WASSIT / IraqiNews.com: Policemen on Monday arrested two al-Qaeda members during a raid in northern Wassit, the local police chief said. “Police forces arrested on Monday morning (Feb 20) an al-Qaeda leader during a raid in al-Mazraa district in al-Suwiera, north of Kut city,” General Hussein Abdulhadi told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The forces managed to detain another al-Qaeda element at a checkpoint in northern Kut, while he was attempting to enter the city with a fake ID,” he added. “The two are wanted for their involvement in implementing armed operations against civilians and security forces in the province,” he explained, pointing out that the two operations were based on intelligence information. Kut, the capital of Wassit, is 180 km southeast of Baghdad. SH (TS)/SR 892