Iraqi security forces said Saturday they arrested 11 men, including the head of a group affiliated with al-Qaeda, who were responsible for a church attack that killed 52 people last month, DPA reported.
According to the Iraqi-based Sumaria News website, security forces arrested the men in the Mansour district of west Baghdad.
During the search for al-Qaeda's top man in Baghdad, security
forces clashed with two militants, killing one and arresting the other.
Police told Iraq's Sumaria News that a prisoner in Basra tipped them off about the whereabouts of the other men, saying they had all been involved in gold store robberies and the attack on the church.
Five militants had taken dozens of people hostage in the October 31 church attack, which members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for.