Senior AQI member netted in Mosul

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi army forces arrested a senior member of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq (a group affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq or AQI), and seized explosives and recruiting documents at his house in western Mosul, said a spokesman for the Ninewa Operation Command (NOC). “A force from the Iraqi army’s 3 rd division conducted a security operation at a village of Rabeaa district (110 km western Mosul), and arrested a senior member of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq,” Brigadier Khalid Abdelsattar told IraqiNews.com. “The force also seized explosives and recruiting documents at his house,” he added. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. The original city of Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. Despite having an amount of Kurdish population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG). There are different communities in Mosul like Christians, Shiites and Kurds along with a Sunni majority. The city is also a historic center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum. MH (S)/AmR 1