Five killed, 17 injured in Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD - At least five people were killed and 17 injured Tuesday in separate attacks across Iraq, while security forces arrested 10 suspected Al Qaeda members in a series of raids.

Three people were killed and seven injured in three consecutive blasts in the al-Bayaa district of western Baghdad, security sources and eyewitnesses told DPA.

Another three were injured, including two policemen, when a security team tried to defuse a fourth bomb, which exploded during the operation.

In the northern part of Fallujah, which lies 60 km west of Baghdad, one policeman was killed and five injured when a bomb targeting their patrol detonated.

The day’s early morning hours, meanwhile, had seen a leader of a Sunni militant group allied with the Iraqi government killed in the southern city of Hilla, a police official said.

Malik Yasin, of the Sahwa - or Awakening Councils - was shot dead by unknown gunmen. Two other members of the group were injured in the attack.

The Sahwa groups regularly face attacks for their role in aiding government and US forces clamp down on radical militant groups.

Joint Iraqi and US arrest raids against such radical elements led to the capture of a suspected Al Qaeda member near Abu Ghraib, and another suspect was detained in Kirkuk after an exchange of fire with the security forces.

Separate operations near the northern city of Mosul over the past two days led to an additional eight suspected Al Qaeda militants being arrested, according to a statement by the US command in Iraq.

Mosul, an ethnically diverse city in the north, is a frequent scene of harsh sectarian violence.

Iraq had seen a decline in attacks in 2008, following massive military operations against insurgents. In recent months, however, the number of attacks has risen again, leading to a particularly high death toll in July and in the first week of August.

US President Barack Obama has confirmed that plans to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq by the end of August are on schedule.

A transitional force of around 50,000 troops is to remain behind for training and advisory purposes, and to carry out some anti-insurgency operations.