Police arrest 5 guards of top Iraqi politician

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO536499.htm

Police arrest 5 guards of top Iraqi politician

BAGHDAD, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Iraqi police arrested five guards of a top Sunni politician on Tuesday, accusing them of firing their weapons in crowded streets to escape traffic congestion, an Interior Ministry source said.

The source said the guards fired repeatedly into the air to disperse cars locked in a traffic jam and clear the way for the politician's motorcade, a common occurrence in Baghdad's tense roads where guards fear the constant threat of suicide bombers.

But an aide to Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of parliament's main Sunni Arab bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front, said police had attacked Dulaimi's 16-car motorcade in western Baghdad's Yarmouk district and captured the final car as the rest fled.

"This morning, as Adnan al-Dulaimi headed to parliament his motorcade was attacked by the police ... The final car was captured and the police arrested five guards confiscating their weapons," Muhannad al-Esawi told Reuters.