Twelve suspects were arrested in connection with the bombing of Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation Church earlier this month, Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said Saturday (November 27th). Police acted on a tip that led to the first arrest and then captured the group of suspects in the Mansour neighbourhood and on Palestine Street.

One of the suspected leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq, Ammar al-Najadi, was killed, according to wire reports. Huthaifa al-Batawi, a suspected al-Qaeda leader in Baghdad was among those arrested.

A total of 52 people were killed in the church siege November 1st, which ended when security forces stormed the church. More than 100 people were taken hostage in the incident.