This is encouraging

Centcom reports that Iraqi troops foiled an attempted car bombing and arrested two insurgents, one of whom was an Iraqi Police Officer. They had been planning to blow up a polling site.

Alpha Company, 1-112 Infantry, a National Guard company based out of the Pittsburgh area, and Soldiers from the 201st Iraqi Army Battalion established a hasty traffic control point Jan. 22 north of Tikrit, in the area called Kadasia, and swiftly apprehended two insurgents.

The Soldiers operating the traffic control point identified the suspected vehicle as it approached their position, slowed the vehicle and instructed the passengers to get out of the car. The occupants of the vehicle, one of whom was an Iraqi National Police officer, were found in possession of a 120-millimeter artillery round wired as an improvised explosive device.

The Explosive Ordinance Disposal team arrived on site and destroyed the device. Through questioning, the insurgents revealed their plan to place the explosive device at an elections polling site in the area.

The fact that they only had one artillery shell makes me wonder if the "insurgents" might be running low on materiel to do their dirty work.

The MNF has been uncovering and destroying weapons caches every day for the past few weeks (since Fallujah). Perhaps they've reduced the "insurgents'" ability to conduct effective attacks.