Iraqi forces killed 13 militants and arrested 94 in operations over the past 24 hours while bombers killed two policemen and wounded several other people in separate attacks on Sunday, officials said. “Eleven terrorists were killed during operations conducted by Iraqi military in Salaheedin, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces,” the defence ministry said, adding that two more were killed in southwest Baghdad.The ministry said 94 others were also arrested over the past 24 hours. In the attacks on security forces, two policemen were killed and four wounded when a roadside bomb exploded next to their patrol in the once upscale Mansur neighbourhood of western Baghdad early on Sunday, officials said. The patrol was part of the security force tasked with protecting several embassies in the area.
In another assault aimed at the police force, a bomber rammed his explosives-rigged car into a police building in the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, wounding 14 people, police and medical officials there told AFP. Police Colonel Hazim Yasin from Baquba said the attack in the city centre occurred at around 11:30 am (0830 GMT). Doctor Firaz al-Azzawi at Baquba hospital confirmed the toll and said that the wounded included three women.
Insurgents have continued to launch attacks in and around Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, despite sustained US-led military assaults in the region aimed at flushing out militants of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. agencies
US soldier: American military said on Sunday that a roadside bomb killed one soldier and wounded three in eastern Baghdad. The bomb exploded against a US combat patrol on Saturday, a military statement said, offering no further details. The latest fatality brought the militaryÂ’s overall losses in Iraq to at least 3,881 since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
The toll in November was 37, among the lowest levels since March 2006, when 27 US troops died. The spike in combat deaths came as a beefed up US force surged out of bases and into the streets of Baghdad and surrounding towns in a push to halt spiraling sectarian violence. But the US military credits the surge and a turnaround in the predominantly Sunni Al-Anbar province with an overall easing of violence in the past few months.
In another assault aimed at the fledgling police force, a bomber rammed his explosives-rigged car into a police building in the restive city of Baquba. The attack wounded 14 people, including three women, according to police and medical officials there.