Iraqi police on Sunday arrested five men suspected of involvement in the brutal abduction and killing on Saturday of a four-member team from the Al-Sharqiya television channel, police said. Two suspects were arrested as they were driving a car which was allegedly used in the crime, said Brigadier General Khalid Abdel-Sattar, spokesman for the police in Nineveh, the province surrounding the northern city of Mosul where the incident occurred.He said police also found a gun with the two suspects.
Abdel-Sattar said three other suspects were arrested in the city's Al-Thawra neighborhood. "We are interrogating them," he added.
The arrests came just hours after Premier Nuri al-Maliki ordered a probe into the incident. "We offer our condolences to the martyrs' families and Al-Sharqiya channel at this painful time," Maliki said. "We condemn all attacks that target the Iraqi media and violate the rights and the freedom of journalists.
"This crime will not prevent our security forces from enforcing the law and security in Nineveh and in all Iraq's provinces," he added.