2 captured, explosives cache seized in Talafar

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Two persons were arrested Friday and a cache of highly-explosive materials seized in Talafar, an official source in the Ninewa Police Department said. “Iraqi forces in Talafar, (60 km) northwest of Mosul, arrested two persons involved in the recent blast that left one civilian man killed and three others wounded in the northern part of the district,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. A civilian man was killed and three others wounded on Tuesday after an improvised explosive device planted inside a computer went off in northern Talafar, prompting the local council to rebuke security agencies and request the deployment of explosive detection equipment and the enhancement of intelligence efforts. “The men, arrested upon intelligence tip-offs, are under initial investigative custody which confirmed their involvement in the blast,” he added. Meanwhile, the source said a force from the Quick Response Brigade (QRB) seized today (Dec. 10) a cache of weapons and 50 kg of highly explosive materials in the area of Mir Qassem, eastern Talafar. “The cache was busted upon confessions of a gunman arrested earlier,” he said, not giving further details about where the gunman was arrested. Earlier on Friday, a local police source said security authorities in Talafar announced a security alert in the western Ninewa district over concerns on possible attacks targeting houses of worship and banks. “Security agencies in Talafar announced a security alert in the district after receiving intelligence tip-offs on plans that armed groups might wage operations targeting Shiite mosques and places of gatherings over Ashuraa celebrations,” the source told IraqiNews.com. Thousands of Shiite Muslims from all over Iraq and neighboring countries would head for the shrine of Imam al-Hussein Ibn Ali in the holy Shiite city of Karbala for the Ashuraa, or the 10th of Muharram on the Muslim Hegira calendar. Ashuraa commemorates the slaughter of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, and his family and companions in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 in the Gregorian calendar). Mosul, the capital city of the violence-ridden multi-ethnic province of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. AmR (S) 41