Senior Islamic State in Iraq leader arrested in Mosul

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi security forces arrested a senior leader of al-Qaeda’s Islamic State in Iraq in eastern Mosul, a source from the Ninewa operations command said. “A senior leader of Islamic State in Iraq armed group, Abu Alaa, believed to be the information minister of the armed group, was arrested in Adan neighborhood in eastern Mosul,” the source told IraqiNews.com. “The operation was based on a tip-off on the presence of the gunman,” he added. 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 fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named for this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble. 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. SH (S)/SR 1