120 liters of explosive material seized near Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Security forces in Kirkuk seized 120 liters of highly explosive C4 material in two hideouts during a security campaign conducted south of the city, according to the Kirkuk districts’ police chief on Tuesday. “The seized explosive material was found in a raid on the village of al-Fazaiya, south of al-Huweija district, (60 km) south of Kirkuk ,” Brig. Sarhad Qader said in statements to IraqiNews.com. “No one was arrested in this campaign, which was conducted thanks to intelligence tips,” Qader added. Kirkuk , 250 km (156 miles) north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad , sits on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement. Because of the strategic geographical location of the city, Kirkuk was the battle ground for three empires, Assyria, Babylonia and Media which controlled the city at various times. Kirkuk is the centre of the northern Iraqi petroleum industry. It is a historically and ethnically mixed city populated by Assyrians, Kurds, Arabs and Iraqi Turkmen. The population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2008. AmR (P) 1