LOC23:36
20:36 GMT
BAGHDAD, Jan 1 (KUNA) -- An Iraqi security spokesman denied here Tuesday
that Iranians might be picked up in the country.
Brigadier Qassem Atta, spokesman for the Operation Imposing Law, made the
denial following reports that the US-backed Sahwa (Awakening) Group in Al
Azmaiya caught three Iranians, making it certain that the arrested persons
worked at the Interior Ministry.
But, Maj. Gen. Abdel-Karim Khalaf, chief of operations at the Iraqi
Interior Ministry, said that the Multi-National Force would set them free
immediately.
"I dismiss that the three persons, who were arrested by US forces yesterday
after they were stopped by Al Azmaiya Sahwa Group, may hold Iranian
nationality," he told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
"Belonging to the Interior Ministry, they were roaming Al Azmaiya as
security forces and Sahwa Councils at the area managed to prevail security
there. It is their right as Iraqis to go wherever they want," he said. (end)
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