Security Summary: March 22, 2007

Iraqi students march past Iraql soldiers at the Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad today during a protest against the US military presence and operations in the area

BASRA - Clashes erupted when members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army attacked the headquarters of the rival Shi'ite Fadhila party in the southern city of Basra, said Ali Hamadi, the head of Basra's emergency security committee. Fadhila and Sadrists played down the fighting as a personal dispute. Seven people were wounded, a hospital source said. A curfew was imposed in the city afterwards, police said.

ANBAR PROVINCE - Two U.S. soldiers were killed in combat on Wednesday in Anbar Province, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed on Wednesday when his patrol came under small arms fire in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces freed three hostages and detained 13 suspected insurgents during operations in Baghdad, Garma, Mosul and Taji targeting al-Qaeda militants and foreign fighter facilitators, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S.-Iraqi joint forces detained 31 people on Wednesday for questioning during search operations in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army killed 16 insurgents and arrested 198 others during the last 48 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

BASRA - British forces said they used "minimum force" to quell a disturbance at a British-run prison in Basra, after an Iraqi official said five inmates were wounded by plastic bullets. Hakim al-Mayahi, who heads Basra provincial council's security committee, said inmates rioted in protest against their detention without trial, some for up to two years.

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