U.S. Troops Seize Al-Qaeda Suspects

A child injured in a bomb attack is taken to hospital by her mother (file photo) (epa) August 12, 2006 -- Iraqi insurgents killed eight civilians and a police officer in attacks around the country on August 12, following a night in which the U.S. military says it killed 26 rebels after coming under fire from several locations in Al-Ramadi, west of the capital Baghdad.

The U.S. military also says that on August 11 it detained 60 people in Baghdad whom it suspects of having links to the terrorist network Al-Qaeda. The military said the group was "planning and conducting training for future attacks." The arrests were made at a funeral in a southern neighborhood of Baghdad.


There has been a sharp rise in violence recently in Iraq's capital, but the violence today was not confined to Baghdad.


In Al-Basrah, Iraq's second-largest city, suspected Islamic extremists killed two civilians in a shop selling videos and cassette tapes.


In Ba'qubah, north of the capital, gunmen killed a police officer. Two civilians were also killed in drive-by shootings in the town.


In Al-Hillah, a clan chieftain was murdered by unidentified gunmen, while a grocer was shot dead in Al-Iskandiriyah. Two other people were killed in Al-Amara.


In addition, the bodies of 15 people killed on an undetermined date were found during the day. The bodies of 12 men -- all of them bound and blindfolded, and most of them shot in the head -- were found in the River Tigris. Another body was found in Baghdad and two in Kifil, in Hillah Province, which lies to the south of the capital.


(Reuters, AFP, AP)

RFE/RL Iraq Report

RFE/RL Iraq Report


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