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Iraq reports arrests of al-Qaida Saudis

BAGHDAD, Jan. 10 (UPI) — Iraqi security forces have arrested hundreds of al-Qaida suspects from Saudi Arabia, an Iraqi national security adviser told an Arabic newspaper.

Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said in an interview with the Saudi Ukaz newspaper most of the Saudis said during interrogation they had entered Iraq from Syria.

He said many of them were on wanted lists in Saudi Arabia, and said he would turn over all of the intelligence on them in an upcoming visit to Riyadh, Iraq’s Alsumaria news agency reported.

Rubaie also predicted “final victory” against al-Qaida in coming months, saying there had been “major achievements” made, which are ongoing.

The interview was published Thursday as the U.S. military announced it had staged a major air raid on al-Qaida safe houses south of Baghdad, destroying 40 buildings in 10 minutes, CNN said.

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US launches airstrike south of Baghdad
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
Yahoo News

ZAMBARANIYAH, Iraq – U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives on the southern outskirts of Baghdad within 10 minutes Thursday in one of the biggest airstrikes of the war, flattening what the military called safe havens for al-Qaida in Iraq.

The massive attack, carried out above approaching U.S. and Iraqi troops, was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a nationwide campaign launched Tuesday against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Maj. Alayne Conway, a spokeswoman for troops in the Multi-National Division-Center, which controls the broad swath of territory south of Baghdad, said the amount of ordnance dropped in 10 minutes nearly exceeded what had been dropped in that region in any month since the U.S. military surge began in earnest in June 2007.

Conway said the air attack “was one of the largest airstrikes since the onset of the war” in March 2003.

The air raid was followed by a ground attack that led to 12 arrests and the discovery of two houses used to torture kidnap victims, according to an Iraqi army officer. He said the troops faced no resistance.

By nightfall, U.S. troops had advanced to Zambaraniyah, a farming village nine miles southeast of the capital and at the edge of the region that was heavily bombed. [...]

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24 killed, 70 hurt in Pakistan bombing
Yahoo News

By K.M. CHAUDHRY, Associated Press Writer

LAHORE, Pakistan – A suicide bomber blew himself up among police deployed outside a court in eastern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 70, officials and witnesses said.
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The blast in front of Lahore High Court was the latest in a wave of attacks targeting politicians and security forces ahead of Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion will likely fall on militants linked to Taliban and al-Qaida.

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Chief of police operations Aftab Cheema said the bomber had run up to a barrier manned by police and blew himself up. He said 21 policemen and three civilians were killed. More than 70 others were wounded, including civilian passers-by, officials said.

An Associated Press photographer saw the severed head of a man with long hair and beard. Bomb disposal experts estimated that up to 30 pounds of explosives were used.
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Those AP photographers always seem to be, “Mr. Ahmed on the spot…”  Hence, the “Associated” in the AP… 

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