U.S.: House of leading Sunni lawmaker raided, large weapons cache seized

Left: A widely-published photo of the aftermath of the boming of a U.S. dining facility in Mosul in 2004, such as that described in U.S. military statment on the raid, which said: "An initial search of the home revealed an anti-coalition calendar, photos of burning British soldiers, photos of the 2004 Mosul dining facility bombing and photos of American flag-draped coffins." The military also said it found machineguns, assault rifles, sub-machineguns, pistols, eight rockets, bomb-making materials, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and mortar bombs. Iraqi sources say the lawmaker is out of the country at this time.

BAGHDAD, April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi troops raided a house belonging to a Sunni political party in Baghdad and seized a large number of weapons, including bomb-making equipment and rockets, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

It said 14 suspects had been arrested in the raid on what it called a "safe house" in Baghdad's western Mansour district on Tuesday. It said the 14 were part of a government-sanctioned bodyguard force for an Iraqi member of parliament.

It did not name the party or the legislator, but sources in the Sunni Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni political group in parliament, said the house belonged to Khalaf Alian, a leading member of the political bloc.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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