Arms cache seized, IED defused near Makhmour

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Security forces on Sunday seized an arms and explosives cache and defused an improvised explosive device near the district of Makhmour, according to an Iraqi army source. “An Iraqi army force, acting upon intelligence tips, today seized an arms and explosives depot near the highway linking al-Kiyara district and Duwayzani village, (32 km) west of Makhmour,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “The cache contained 22 mortar shells, four Kalashnikov assault rifles, 12 hand-grenades and one map,” he said. Meanwhile, the same source added, army forces defused an IED planted on the same highway without incident. Makhmour, 68 km southwest of Arbil, the capital city of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, is one of the disputed areas between the autonomous Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad. Arbil lies 349 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P)/SR 1