Iraqi police have detained 31 private security guards in a raid the interior ministry said had netted sophisticated weaponry that was meant to be used for attacks. The staff of the Al-Forat security company were "arrested as they planned to carry out terrorist activities against innocent people", the ministry said in a statement on Monday. The 31 employees were picked up from the central Hamra hotel, which houses the offices of a number of foreign firms, including media organisations, the ministry said without specifying the day of the arrests. Bayan Jabr Solagh, the Iraqi interior minister, said Al-Forat "does not have a licence from our ministry" to operate as a security firm and charged that some of its detained employees had confessed to participating in violence. "We discovered a lot of weapons including sophisticated rifles usually used by snipers, and also rocket-propelled grenades," the minister told state television. "I am astonished how a private security company can have arms like RPGs as our ministry does not allow such companies to have more than revolvers and Kalashnikovs."