Four killed in Iraq violence, 73 arrested (Extra)

Nov 11, 2007, 12:27 GMT

Baghdad - Four people were wounded and four killed, one of whom in a US airstrike on residential buildings, in a fresh spate of violence in Iraq on Sunday, security sources and eyewitnesses said.

US airstrikes launched overnight on residential buildings in districts of Diwaniyah, 280 kilometres south of Baghdad, left a civilian dead and two wounded and damaged buildings, eyewitnesses said.

The air raids targeted members of the Shiite al-Mahdi Army in the districts of al-Sadr and al-Nahda in the predominantly Shiite city of Diwaniyah.

Diwaniyah has been the scene of security offensives by Iraqi and US troops targeting loyalists of the radial Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr.

In the city of Baquba, a US-Iraqi army patrol was struck by a bomb that caused two fatalities, security sources said. Two other members of the patrol were wounded.

The Iraqi army backed by US forces launched a series of offensives to seek out members of al-Qaeda in villages near Baqubah, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, according to the sources.

The crackdown led to the arrest of 73 people, including a key member of al-Qaeda identified as Abu-Nijm al-Juburi. Weapons were also seized.

Also in Baquba, gunmen stormed the building of the technical institute and abducted two students. A third student was killed when the gunmen fired randomly on their way out of the building, eyewitnesses said.

Three bodies were found in Ghalibiyah area of Baquba. Two of the bodies has not been identified while the third was said to be that of a building contractor working in reconstruction projects.