US troops kill three Islamists in Mosul

30 December 2003
US forces in Iraq have killed three men suspected of being members of an Islamist group connected to Al-Qaeda, US officials said on 30 December. In a separate operation near Baghdad, three former army and intelligence officers were captured.

In the northern city of Mosul, US officials said that soldiers had killed three suspected Ansar al-Islam militants during an operation to detain insurgents. Two soldiers were wounded in the incident. On searching the building, US troops found two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, eight grenades and two rifles, a US military statement said. Six people in the house have been detained by local police.

In Baqubah, north of Baghdad, US troops detained three former army and intelligence officers suspected of conducting anti-coalition attacks in the Sunni Triangle. 'We had a report of a terrorist cell which has been conducting terrorist attacks on coalition forces,' said US military spokesman David Wicklund. 'We came here in the early morning hours and caught them while there were sleeping.' He added that the men were probably mid-level officials from Saddam Hussein's regime.

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