[ADN Kronos] Iraqi police claim for the first time to have uncovered an Al-Qaeda cell containing three Shia members, Iraq's interior ministry said, quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The ministry said the cell operated in the area around the city of Diwaniya, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad, and carried out numerous attacks and targeted killings.One of the cell's alleged Shia members was a police officer employed by the interior ministry, it said.
"The investigations began on 9 April, just days after the series of bombings in Baghdad," interior ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Raghif said. "We received information that a policeman from al-Doura helped the terrorists drive through numerous police and Iraqi army checkpoints in Baghdad to carry out the car bombings."
The policeman was arrested and confessed to the crime, Raghif was quoted as saying.
Iraqi authorities believe the cell carried out a series of bombings in Baghdad on 6 April that killed 32 people.