Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

U.S. says finds shackled bodies in Iraq Qaeda sweep

Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:12pm IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday its troops had killed 12 suspected al Qaeda fighters and found two shackled bodies in a makeshift detention facility during raids along the Tigris River north and south of Baghdad.

In one operation near Samarra, 100 km north of Baghdad, U.S. troops called in air strikes after they came under fire while searching for leaders of the Sunni Islamist group in Iraq, the military said.

The air strikes killed five militants. Another five were killed by ground troops when they entered a nearby building.

"The ground force discovered an al Qaeda in Iraq detention facility which contained the bodies of two additional men bound in shackles and believed to have been executed," the U.S. military said in a statement.

It said it appeared the men had been killed before U.S. troops arrived. It was the second such find announced by the U.S. military this week.

Another suspected al Qaeda fighter was killed during raids in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, and another was killed south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The operations took place on Sunday and Monday.

Senior U.S. military leaders have said northern Iraq remains the most troublesome area after a security crackdown was launched in and around Baghdad in February.

U.S. military and civilian casualties have dropped sharply in the past two months, partly as a result of 30,000 extra U.S. troops targeting al Qaeda fighters and Shi'ite militias. The troops became fully operational in mid-June.

The military says attacks have dropped 55 percent since the troop "surge", a last-ditch attempt to avert sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.  Continued...

Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin poses with his G20 colleagues and central bank leaders during the family photo at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting at a hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland. REUTERS/POOL New
Pledge to support economies

G20 financial leaders pledged to prepare strategies to end emergency support for their economies, but to keep the aid flowing until recovery was assured.  Full Article | Related Story 

Photo
Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports Friday, 6 Nov 2009 

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.  Full Article