(KUNA) -- American troops have killed three members of Al-Qaeda and arrested 34 others in action in central and northern Iraq, the American Army said in a statement released on Saturday. The troops burst into a building north of the city of Tikrit, searching for a leading member of Al-Qaeda. Aircraft attacked the building after gunmen entrenched in it opened fire in the direction of the regulars. The air attack killed three of the insurgents, one wearing a belt laden with explosives. The statement added that 34 members of Al-Qaeda were detained north of Tirkrit, west of the region Al-Tarmiah and in Mosul. In Al-Daghara in southern Baghdad, the troops arrested six militiamen in an identical operation.