3 ISI suspects nabbed in Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: A combined Iraqi force detained three suspected members of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) group southwest of Kirkuk on Wednesday, a senior security official in the city said. “A force from the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department and the Tarklan police station arrested three persons suspected of belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq at the Tarklan checkpoint, (20 km) southwest of Kirkuk,” KDPD chief Brig. Sarhad Qader told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The detainees, local residents of al-Huweija district, (70 km) southwest of Kirkuk, were referred to the criminal investigations department for questioning,” Qader added. Lat April, the Iraqi military announced the capture of the man they say is the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) Maj. General Qassem Atta had said Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was arrested in Baghdad based on an intelligence tip-off from someone. Baghdadi is said to be the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization for al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgent groups fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces. The oil-rich Kirkuk, a city of mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen population, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 1