Iraqi police on Wednesday (December 19th) arrested five suspected al-Qaeda members in a series of security operations in central and southern Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said.

"The detainees are involved in blowing up improvised explosive devices (IEDs), killing a family and transferring weapons to another terrorist group in the capital," Interior Ministry spokesperson Col. Saad Maan told Al-Shorfa.

Maan said security forces seized 135 kilogrammes of explosives and a number of weapons during the operations, which were conducted in co-ordination with army forces and citizen co-operation.