8 al-Qaeda members captured in Mosul

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: U.S. forces captured eight suspected members of al-Qaeda during raids that targeted the armed network in the northern Iraq province of Ninewa on Friday, according to a statement by the U.S. army. “Coalition forces, in an area about 71 km south of Mosul city, arrested a wanted man believed to be an operative of al-Qaeda organization and to have links with its leaders,” read the statement as received by IraqiNews.com. “Five other suspects were captured in the same operation,” the statement added. U.S. forces also detained on Friday two wanted men believed to have links with the organization leaders in the city of Mosul , it noted. 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. AmR (S) 1