2 al-Qaeda gunmen arrested in Jalawlaa

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Police forces on Wednesday arrested two al-Qaeda elements in Jalawlaa district in Diala, the chief of the Diala police said. “Policemen waged a security raid in Jalawlaa district in Khaniqeen, northeast of Baaquba, where they arrested two al-Qaeda gunmen, one of them the main financer of the group in the province,” Brig. Abdul Hussein al-Shemri told IraqiNews.com. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi). A large portion of the province is drained by the Diala River, a major tributary of the Tigris. Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diala’s main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large Date Palm groves. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East. In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remnants of al-Qaeda network following the Diala province campaign between 2006 and 2007. SH (S) 1