(AKI) - Two leaders allegedly from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq have been arrested in volatile Diyala province, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported on Tuesday.Haqqa Ismayl and Muthanna al-Duleimi were detained in an army raid near the provincial capital, Baquba.
Suicide bombers have for some time been targetting the area around Baquba against local Sunni tribesmen who joined local Awakening Councils to fight al-Qaeda. Twenty suicide attacks have been carried out this year in Diyala, many of them by women.
The Islamic State of Iraq has been held responsible for many of the suicide attacks carried out in the Sunni province. It is made up of seven Salafite-inspired groups and is led by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.