Security forces arrest 3 suspects in Howaiyja

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Three suspected gunmen were arrested on Wednesday during a security raid in Howaiyja district in Kirkuk, a source from the Kirkuk operations room said. “Police forces, in cooperation with a force from the brigade 15th of the Iraqi army, arrested three suspected gunmen during a crackdown operation in al-Askari neighborhood in al-Howaiyja district,” the source told IraqiNews.com. He did not add further details. 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. SH (S) 1