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8 Kurdish troops among 11 killed in Iraq gunbattle
Eight Kurdish Peshmerga troops and three militant gunmen were killed in a battle northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, a spokesman for the Kurdish forces said, Reuters reported. Major General Jabbar Yawar, spokesman for the Peshmerga units of Iraqs Kurdistan region, said the fighting took place near the town of Khanaqin. The Peshmergas, who fought alongside US and Iraqi troops, were attacked by gunmen with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Five Peshmergas were wounded and the fighting continued into the afternoon near the town. No information about the identity of the gunmen was immediately available. Al Qaeda and other Sunni Islamist insurgents have been pushed into Diyala and other areas north of Baghdad since a security crackdown began in mid-February. 3 killed, 19 captured: Meanwhile in Baghdad, US forces killed three suspected insurgents and captured 19 on Thursday in raids targeting Al Qaeda in Iraq along the Tigris River valley, the military said, according to AP. In one operation north of Baghdad, troops captured a man suspected of involvement in planning car bomb attacks, the military said in a statement. Five more suspects were also detained, and an armed man was killed during the operation near Khalis, 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, it said. Meanwhile south of the capital, American soldiers captured another wanted man near Youssifiyah, the military said. He is suspected of being associated with Al Qaeda in Iraq, and of planning attacks on US troops in the area, it said. The man came forward and identified himself to ground troops, who arrested him and another suspect, the statement said. Two men were killed in Mosul, 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, in an operation targeting an alleged Al Qaeda leader, the military said. Five more suspects were detained north of Beiji, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, the statement said. Posted by: Fred 2007-12-07 |
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