Iraqi police commandos have aborted a 'terror campaign' planned by Al-Qaeda in Iraq to disrupt the constitutional referendum in two days' time, a senior officer said.
'In all, 17 car bombs have been found, 17 members of the network killed and 65 others arrested,' Colonel Ali Abu al-Hassan of the controversial Wolf Brigade told media following an offensive on the southern outskirts of Baghdad.
'During the operation, which was launched following tips from intelligence sources and which ended this morning, terrorist hideouts were surrounded in the Sayafia and Arab Jubur neighborhoods,' the police officer added.
'The cell's aim was to strike Baghdad on referendum day,' when 15.5 million Iraqis are to vote on a proposed constitution for the post-Saddam Hussein era.
Firefights between the troops and suspected rebels lasted 48 hours.
Sixty-five blindfolded suspects were presented to reporters at the brigade's headquarters at the interior ministry.
The Wolf Brigade has spearheaded Iraqi offensives against insurgents, but has also been accused of brutality and of airing suspects on television before they faced trial.
Colonel Hassan displayed a portrait of one of the cell's suspected leaders, Abu Aws, and urged the population to look out for him and report any sightings to his unit.
Iraqi authorities have begun a security clampdown ahead of the nationwide vote Saturday, setting up extra checkpoints and preparing to enforce a curfew and partially closed international and internal borders. |