2 wanted men captured in Diala

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: Policemen in Diala captured two wanted men in two separate operations in the districts of Baaquba and al-Muqdadiya on Friday, a security source said. “Security forces in Diala province conducted a military operation in Baaquba, arresting a man wanted by judicial authorities,” the source told IraqiNews.com. ” In the area of al-Wajihiya, al-Muqdadiya district, (45 km) east of Baaquba, another wanted man arrested in a security raid,” the source added. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian borders. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad . It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi). 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. Later on, the Iraqi security forces had launched a wide-scale security campaign in Diala province. The operation, codenamed Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good), is aimed at tracking down members of al-Qaeda network in Diala , Iraq ‘s most restive city, after the armed group lost its strongholds in the western Iraq predominantly Sunni province of al-Anbar, where tribesmen fought its members and flushed them out of the city. AmR (S) 1