KYIV. Jan 31 (Interfax-AVN) - Ukrainian servicemen assisted by Iraqi law enforcement detained seven guerillas and seized an arsenal of weapons and ammo on the eve of the elections to the Iraqi National Assembly, an official of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry press service told Interfax-Military News Agency Monday.
"On the eve of the elections, detachments of the 7th Ukrainian detached mechanized brigade and the 407th battalion of the Iraqi National Guard conducted an operation to search and detain people suspected of staging acts of terror against multinational forces and local law enforcement," he said.
According to him, extremists in the town of Al Suwyara delivered a mortar attack against the camp of national guards killing one servicemen and injuring several more several days before the election. The command of the Ukrainian contingent retrieved intelligence that three terrorist gangs were planning to disrupt the election in the Ukrainian responsibility zone on Sunday.
The operation resulted in apprehending seven men ho are suspected of terrorist activity. The servicemen seized two cars of the guerillas with two rocket-launchers, five rockets, and five AK-47 assault rifles.
The press service also informs that the Ukrainian servicemen found four caches with 155-mm and 122-mm artillery rounds, 70 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines of Italian and Soviet origin, two boxes of ammo for a heavy machinegun, and small arms and ammo for assault rifles. The caches also included a notebook with detailed schemes of bomb emplacement and parking places for car bombs, as well as a map of Al Suwayra areas to get under fire.