At least 18 dead in Iraqi violence (Roundup)

May 13, 2007, 14:31 GMT

Baghdad - A total of 18 people were killed in violence across Iraq, as an al-Qaeda-affiliated group claimed they captured three US soldiers who were reported missing a day earlier in southern Baghdad, radio reports said Sunday.

The three US soldiers were reported missing following a Saturday attack west of the Iraqi town of Mahmudiya, 35 kilometres south of Baghdad, in which four servicemen and an Iraqi were killed.

According to the BBC's Arabic service, a militant group under the name of the Iraqi Islamic State published an internet statement Sunday saying that they were holding hostage the three 'soldiers of the cross.' The US military could not be reached for comment.

Separately, at least 10 people were killed and over 30 were wounded in a suicide bomb attack that targeted one of the quarters of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Mosul, local police sources said.

Pan-Arab broadcaster al-Jazeera had reported earlier that around 30 were killed and 50 were wounded. Iraq's Interior Ministry was yet to release official casualty figures, while local sources claimed that these were likely to increase in aftermath of the attack.

The blast occurred when a suicide attacker blew up his explosive- laden car in the area known as Makhmur in Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Policemen were among the wounded, who were quickly transported to nearby hospitals, the local source said.

The Kurdish party is led by Massoud Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdish government in Iraq.

In Baghdad, four people were killed and 12 were wounded when a car patrol was attacked by an explosive device in the centre of the capital.

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least four people were killed and five others wounded in separate attacks in north-east Baquba, the capital of the notorious Diyala province on Sunday morning, the Voices of Iraq news agency said.

In both blasts - one in a residential area - explosive charges were detonated, the agency said, quoting security sources.

Two women were killed and two others were injured in the residential area, while in the other blast, on the road between Baquba and the north-eastern town of Wajihiya, killed two civilians and wounded three others.

In another development and in response to the raging violence in Diyala, Premier Nuri al-Maliki said Sunday that a plan to create a joint operation room to control the province was in effect.

He added that the security forces had been beefed up, and more officers were assigned to the violent area, where many terrorist suspects were said to be in hiding.

On a different note, US-led coalition forces said they detained three militants suspected of being members of a secret terrorist cell during operations in south-eastern Baghdad. The arrests reportedly included an alleged senior leader in this cell.

In Baghdad, the US military said they arrested 35 al-Qaeda- affiliated terrorist suspects during raids in different parts of the capital.

According to their statement, some of those detained were allegedly tied to a network responsible for kidnapping, extortion and attacks against multinational forces in Iraq.