Reporter killed in Baghdad, six militants killed (Roundup)

Dec 4, 2006, 16:35 GMT

Baghdad - A reporter was shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad Monday while US and Iraqi police raids left two insurgents and four kidnappers dead.

In western Baghdad, unknown gunmen shot dead 36-year-old Nabil al- Duleimi who works as a reporter for Degla Radio.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police claimed that they had freed the deputy of the dean of Baghdad university's mass communication department and killed the four men who had kidnapped him.

Early Monday, US-led coalition forces announced they killed two insurgents and detained six suspected terrorists during an early morning raid in northern Baghdad. Only the day before, the forces had captured eight al-Qaeda affiliated militants.

The soldiers said they destroyed an explosive device during Monday's raid.

The US special army forces, supported by coalition 'advisers,' also announced Monday that they had captured a terrorist suspect and detained seven of his associates during a raid near Taji, north of Baghdad.

According to the US statement, the key suspect 'is believed to be part of a cell that provides safe houses and staging areas for attacks and other operations in Baghdad to al-Qaeda in Iraq.'

The US military also announced that two US soldiers were killed and two were wounded during operations northern Iraq Sunday.

Another US military statement released Monday said one US soldier died and three US soldiers remained missing after their helicopter made an emergency landing in the west of the northern province of Anbar.

The aircraft had 16 people on board.

Another US soldier was killed on Sunday in a raid in Baghdad.

So far, at least 10 coalition soldiers were killed this Saturday and Sunday across Iraq.

Meanwhile, 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, a British army base in Basra came under mortar shell attack Monday, Iraqi authorities said.

No casualties were reported and the extent of damage remains unclear, said the sources.

The British military in Basra, where around 8,000 soldiers are based, has been previously attacked by militants.

In other developments, the trial of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and six of his aides on genocide charges related to the Anfal campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s resumed.

One co-defendant and former defence minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed demanded that 'neutral foreign and international experts' review testimonies presented last session (Thursday) by American experts.

The court headed by Judge Mohammad al-Oreibi had listened Thursday to a American experts in forensics who testified about the mass graves, discovered near Mosul north of Baghdad where many Kurds killed during Iraqi army raids are believed to be buried.

'These so-called experts are not fair, and are part of the occupation armies,' said Ahmed.