Arms, ammo found in Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Police forces on Wednesday found a large amount of arms and ammunition in the north of Kirkuk city, a local police chief said. “Today, security forces found 20 82mm mortar shells and a 120mm cannon ball in two villages in Shawan district (35 km north of Kut city),” Brig. Sarhad Qadir told IraqiNews.com. 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. SS (P)/SR 1