Security Summary: March 20, 2007

U.S. soldiers during a raid in Baghdad today

NEAR FALLUJA - Police and tribal fighters killed 39 gunmen linked to al-Qaeda in the town of Amiriya about 5 km (3 miles) south of Falluja, said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, director of the Ramadi governor's office. He said nine tribal fighters and eight policemen were killed and 17 wounded in the clashes.

Doctor Abdul Sattar al-Esawi said Falluja hospital received 17 bodies, including eight policemen and 16 wounded, three in serious condition.

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb near a mosque killed a man and wounded three others in al-Ubaidi district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four mortar bombs killed at least seven people and wounded 20 in Abu Dsheer, a mostly Shi'ite area in southern Baghdad, police said.

NEAR KIRKUK - Gunmen killed a policeman on a main road near the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.

KIRKUK - Police said they found the body of a policeman, stabbed with a knife and bore signs of torture, in Kirkuk.

BAGHDAD - U.S.-led forces conducted a raid in the Hurriya district of northwest Baghdad, detaining three people, the U.S. military said, adding that three suspected insurgents were killed by small arms fire.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed three people and wounded seven near a bridge in Karrada district in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed three insurgents and detained 101 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

FALLUJA - Police found the body of a man with gunshot wounds in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja, 50 km west of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained nine suspected insurgents during raids in Mosul and Baghdad targeting al-Qaeda militants, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Police said they found the bodies of 30 people shot on Monday in different districts of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb near a police station killed at least five people and wounded 17 in central Baghdad, police said. Another police source said six people were killed and 21 wounded.

AL-ZAB - Gunmen killed a man and wounded another in the town of al-Zab, 70 km southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - Mortar rounds wounded five people on Monday just north of Baghdad, police said. They said mortars in southeastern Baghdad wounded another four.

From Reuters/Alternet