Baghdad - At least three Iraqis were killed and 12 injured
in attacks on Monday mainly around the capital Baghdad, local Iraqi
media reported.
In central Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed and five others wounded
in a suicide car bomb blast on Monday, reported local Voices of Iraq
news agency citing an Iraqi police source.
In the town of Iskandariya, 50 kilometres south of Baghdad, at
least one Iraqi was killed and three others injured in a mortar
attack on a residential area on Monday.
A curfew had been imposed in the early hours of Monday after armed
clashes resulted in the destruction of a mosque in the town.
In southern Baghdad, an Iraqi policeman and at least three
civilians were wounded when an explosive device targeted a police
patrol, an Iraqi police source said.
On Sunday, five US soldiers were killed and four wounded, the
Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported Monday, citing US military
sources.
Four of the soldiers died in a bomb attack in the province of
Diyala, while a fifth was killed in north-western Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces Monday confirmed the arrest of an
al-Qaeda leader and two of his aides in western Baghdad, according to
a report by the Voices of Iraq news agency.
'A force from 3rd Brigade raided Abu Ghraib area and arrested
Ahmad Farhan and two of his close associates last Tuesday,' Baghdad
security plan spokesman Qassem Atta told a press conference in the
city.
Atta played video footage showing Farhan, an emir (leader) of the
international terrorist network, confessing to his ties with a wanted
man called Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
'I receive support from Syria and Jordan and have got four groups
with an emir and 25 members for each,' Farhan said in the videotaped
confession.
Atta said Farhan acknowledged his direct responsibility for 300
killings and 200 kidnappings, adding 17 hostages were freed and four
kidnappers were arrested in Abu Ghraib.
'Seventy-one wanted terrorists were arrested and ammunition seized
in the area of al-Latifiya (south-east of Baghdad),' Atta added.
Reviewing the achievement of the Fard al-Qanoun or Law Enforcement
security plan for the period March 21-26, Atta said: '130 terrorists
were detained, 227 suspects arrested, 25 hostages freed and large
amounts of weapons seized.'
Also Monday, the Iraqi security forces found 430 anti-tank mines,
reportedly ready for use, in a house in Jamila area in the mostly
Shiite Sadr district in eastern Baghdad.
Iraqi military spokesman Qasem al-Mawsouwi told a press conference
that sectarian violence in Baghdad had decreased by 21 per cent in
the last week.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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