U.S. and Iraqi troops killed four suspected insurgents and detained a local leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq network during a raid in Salahudin province in north of Baghdad on Saturday, a provincial police source said.
At dawn, the troops raided the village of Jallam, 25 km east of the city of Samarra, killing four insurgents and detaining Safa Muhammad Abdullah, a top aide for the al-Qaida network leader in Samarra region, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The raid came as the security forces in the province are tightening security measures to prevent al-Qaida members from fleeing their strongholds in neighboring province of Nineveh where the U.S. and Iraqi troops are preparing for a major offensive against insurgents, the source said.
Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that his troops were moving for a "decisive" final offensive against al-Qaida's last stronghold in the country's third largest city of Mosul.
Source: Xinhua
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