A bomb squad defused 40 kg of the highly explosive C4 on a road in northeastern Nassiriya, the media spokesman for the Thi-Qar police said on Monday.

“The forces defused the bomb, planted by unknown gunmen on the road between Sabd Dakhiel district, northeastern of Nassiriya, and the center of the province,” Major Naser al-Majedi told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

“The bomb was defused by a bomb expert,” he added.

Thi-Qar, 380 km south of Baghdad, has an area of 12,900 square kilometers (4,980.7 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population of the governorate was 1,454,200 people. Thi-Qar's capital is the city of al-Nassiriya. It also includes the ancient Sumerian ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash and Ngirsu. Before 1976 the province was known as al-Muntafiq.

HEYET Net- VOI