Iraqi soldier detained in Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi policemen on Saturday detained an Iraqi soldier for opening fire at a member of the Taza district’s municipal council, wounding him and killing one of his bodyguards, a Kirkuk a senior police official said on Saturday. “The soldier opened fire at a member of the local council in Taza district, southwest of Kirkuk, wounding him and killing one of his bodyguards,” Col. Ahmed Shamiran told IraqiNews.com. “The arrested soldier is remanded in investigative custody,” Shamiran added. 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. AmR (P) 1