Police in Anbar province arrested eight suspected al-Qaeda gunmen in a security operation targeting a residential building where the gunmen were meeting, police officials said Thursday (December 20th).

"A special force raided a residential building in central Ramadi after receiving information on an al-Qaeda meeting there," Anbar police chief Maj. Gen. Hadi Kassar Erzaij told Al-Shorfa.

The detainees include "prominent al-Qaeda terrorist Hamid Abbas, alias 'Abu Issa'", Erzaij said, adding that police also seized a laptop "containing extremely important information on al-Qaeda in Iraq" during the operation.

The detainees are now under investigation at the Anbar police command, he said.