Four US soldiers killed; Iraqi policemen held for murder (Roundup)

Nov 14, 2007, 15:59 GMT

Baghdad - Insurgents in Iraq killed four US soldiers, the US military command in Baghdad said Wednesday, as further violence as well as arrests of militants and suspected rogue policemen were reported.

One US soldier was shot dead Wednesday during an operation near the city of Mosul, two were killed and four wounded Tuesday in an explosion in Diyala province, while a fourth soldier died in shooting in Baghdad on Monday, the US military reported.

With 860 deaths, 2007 has been the most lethal year so far for US soldiers in Iraq.

The Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency meanwhile reported that in the mostly Shiite province of Diwaniyah in southern Iraq, seven police officers - members of the movement led by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - have been arrested for murder.

The Sadr movement condemned the arrests as part of a campaign against their party.

In other developments, Iraqi security forces killed 12 militants and arrested 24 in operations in the last 24 hours, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Raids were carried out in the areas of Karkh and Rasafa in Baghdad as part of the US-backed Fard al- Qanoon (Law Enforcement) security plan enacted in February.

In another incident, one civilian was killed and two others wounded when a bomb went off in central Baghdad's Salihiya neighbourhood.

The explosion targeted a US army patrol but only caused damage to an armoured vehicle, VOI reported, citing police sources. US soldiers were reportedly unharmed.

The explosion occurred near the headquarters of Iraq's foreign ministry - just metres away from the heavily-fortified Green Zone where the US and British embassies are based.

Separately, security sources told dpa that a civilian was killed and three others were wounded when mortar shells fell on a neighbourhood in Khalis district, 50 kilometres north of Baghdad.

In predominantly Shiite Karbala meanwhile, a police raid rounded- up five Sadr-affiliated leaders and 48 suspected militants in an after-dawn operation in the holy city. Police also found a hideout in the Razaza area with a small factory for explosive devices, according to VOI.

The official al-Sabah newspaper quoted a source close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Wednesday as saying that the government wanted to help families that had fled to neighbouring countries to return to Iraq.

Since the security situation had improved in Iraq, the government would first try to encourage the Iraqi refugees in Syria to return home, the newspaper said.

In another development, US soldiers in the Dora area of Baghdad arrested an alleged operative with the al-Qaeda in Iraq group, was wanted on suspicion of murder and kidnapping.

In addition the soldiers during the operations on Sunday and Monday also discovered a small weapons cache.

Also on Wednesday, the Association of Muslim Scholars, Iraq's largest Sunni organization, published an online statement claiming that guards belonging to the government-run Endowments Department 'occupied' the association's quarters in Baghdad and forced the employees to evacuate their offices.

The broadcast of the association's radio channel known as Omm al- Qura was also stopped.