AQI leader arrested in central Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Security forces in Kirkuk arrested a key member of an organization belonging to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in the central part of the city on Saturday, a senior security official said. “Forces from the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department on Saturday evening captured Shakir Mahmoud Awwad, a leading member of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq group, in the Ahmed Agha souk (market),” Brig. Sarhad Qader, the department chief, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Awwad, a local resident of al-Huweija district, southwest of Kirkuk, is on the security agencies’ list of wanted persons on charges of involvement in terrorism,” Qader added. The province of Kirkuk lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P)/SR 1