The arrests were made in 14 raids in Kerbala province and neighboring Babil province, General Othman Al-Ghanimi, who is in charge of security in five central Iraqi provinces, told a news conference late Wednesday.
“Based on intelligence, soldiers were able to raid 14 terrorist cells and arrest 80 militants,” Al-Ghanimi said. “They were planning to attack pilgrims on Friday.”
Meanwhile, police say a spate of bombings killed two Iraqi pilgrims.
Police said four bombs hidden in trash cans killed two people in a procession and wounded six others in the town of Dujail. The casualties were confirmed by Dr. Munthir Hussein of the Hussein hospital in Dujail.
Earlier, a roadside bomb wounded three pilgrims in the downtown Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, police said.
Executions
Iraq has executed 257 people, including six women, since 2005, deputy justice minister Busho Ibrahim said on Thursday, amid calls from the United Nations for Iraq to abolish capital punishment.
Ibrahim also said the country was embarking on a major prison rebuilding and renovation program that would see all of its 33 jails upgraded to what he said would be international standards by 2015.
“Executions began in August 2005, and 37 people are presently ready to be executed, following approval from the presidency council,” Ibrahim said.
He said 251 men and six women had been executed since Iraq lifted the moratorium on the death penalty it adopted after the 2003 US-led invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein.
This year, Iraq has executed just 17 people, sharply down on 2009 when it put 124 people to death, four of them women.
Ibrahim gave no explanation for the fall but Iraq has been without a government for much of this year and under the constitution all executions have to approved by a member of the three-man presidency.
Ibrahim said the death penalty can be applied in crimes that fall under five categories: murder, terrorism, kidnapping, drug trafficking and crimes against humanity. Those executed are usually hanged.
He did not immediately have figures on the total number of prisoners who have been sentenced to death, but Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani said on Monday that Iraq has 835 people on death row.
UN envoy Ad Melkert called on the Iraqi government to abolish the death penalty in a speech marking International Human Rights Day on Friday.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is an ardent supporter of capital punishment, but President Jalal Talabani is a staunch opponent. Iraq's fractured penal system means that while all convicted prisoners are sent to justice ministry jails, the ministries of interior and defense operate their own pre-trial detention facilities.
Ibrahim said that as of December 9, a total of 24,783 people were being held in justice ministry prisons, including both convicts and remand prisoners.
Among them are 130 minors convicted of offenses and 45 awaiting trial. A total of 341 adult women are serving sentences, while 241 are on remand.
Ibrahim said Iraq was holding some foreign prisoners but did not specify how many. He said most of the foreigners were Arabs or of Arab origin. Overall, he put prison operating costs at between $180 and $190 per prisoner per month — $150 a month for food, with the remainder being spent on clothing, health care and other services.
