Minister calls for swift execution of terror suspects BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces arrested 39 suspected Al-Qaeda members in the mostly Sunni western province of Anbar and soldiers nabbed a Moroccan fighter in the north of the country, officials said Thursday. The more than three dozen alleged insurgents, who apparently also invited foreign fighters into Iraq, were paraded in a televised news conference here attended by Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and several generals. “Security forces arrested 39 Al-Qaeda members who run terrorist operations in Anbar and also support other criminal operations in Baghdad, and who also tried to invite foreign Al-Qaeda fighters to Iraq,” Bolani said. Hailing the arrests as a “major achievement”, Al-Bolani called for their death penalty, even before they have been put on trial. Showing off the handcuffed suspects at the press conference, Al-Bolani told reporters he is confident the men will be found guilty, citing their alleged confessions, documents and video found at their homes that he said showed their earlier attacks and plans to carry out new ones. He did not say when the men were arrested, but described them as operatives of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an Al-Qaeda wing, who were based in Anbar province. “Today, we will send those criminals and the investigation results to the courts that will sentence them to death,” Al-Bolani, a Shiite, told reporters. “Our demand is not to delay the carrying out of the executions against these criminals so that to deter terrorist and criminal elements.” The prisoners, who were wearing orange jumpsuits, were silent throughout the news conference. Neither Al-Bolani nor any of the generals present detailed any operations the group were plotting, whether any munitions or equipment were seized, or when the raids that led to the arrests were conducted. Maj. Gen. Dhia Hussein, one of the senior officers present, said the raids were conducted based on intelligence obtained from other Al-Qaeda fighters who had previously been detained. Among those arrested were Hazim Al-Azzawi, a “minister” in the Islamic State of Iraq, Al-Qaeda's front group, Ahmed Hussein Ali, ISI's “Mufti of Anbar”, and Abdul Razzaq, the organization's media chief, Hussein said. According to state broadcaster Al-Iraqiya, Iraqi special forces also arrested Salem Sarfeej, the ISI's chief for southwest Baghdad. Earlier in the day, two insurgents were killed and two others wounded in an Iraqi army raid in the northern province of Salaheddin, Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed Al-Askari said. One of those wounded and now in detention is a Moroccan national, Askari said.
