Diala police to handle water shortage

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Digging work has begun on 200 artesian wells in different parts of Diala, a local police chief said on Wednesday, noting that this work is a contribution by security forces to tackle the shortage of water in the province. “Diala police command supervised the digging work,” Staff Brig. Abdelhussein al-Shamri said during his meeting with a number of Diala chieftains. The stability in the security situation should be matched by an equivalent improvement in services, Shamri noted. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi). A large portion of the province is drained by the Diala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diala’s main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large Date Palm groves. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remnants of al-Qaeda network following the Diala province campaign between 2006 and 2007. SS (S) 1