March, 27 2005	Sunday	16 Safar 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

BAGHDAD, March 26: Iraqi forces said on Saturday that they had arrested 120 suspects, including foreign Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans, on suspicion of planning attacks against the country’s Shia community. A source at the defence ministry said the suspects were arrested during a raid in Jurf al-Sakhr, about 60km south of Baghdad. “We found explosive devices and materials, booby-trapped cars and compact discs showing beheadings,” said the source, who did not wish to be identified. He said preliminary interrogation of the suspects had revealed that they had a list of clerics targeted for assassination in the mid-Euphrates region, which includes the Shia shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf. “Some of them were tasked with attacking pilgrims with small arms fire and roadside bombs and even poisoning their food,” the source said.—AFP