Raid frees 41 held at Al-Qaeda prison camp north of Baghdad

Soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division attend an operational briefing before moving out on a mission in Diyala province in April

US forces raided an Al-Qaeda prison camp north of Baghdad on Sunday and rescued 41 Iraqi captives showing signs of having been tortured or otherwise mistreated, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Donnelly said. Politically, hard-line Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr met his top lieutenants on Sunday to discuss a new direction for his movement after his return to public life following months out of view.

The raid was part of a three-month-old security crackdown that includes the deployment of 3,000 more US troops to Diyala, north of the capital, that has been the site of heavy fighting in recent weeks, said Major General William Caldwell, the top US military spokesman in Iraq.

Caldwell said Iraqis told US forces about the hide-out.

"The people in Diyala are speaking up against Al-Qaeda," he said.

Caldwell refused to disclose the location of the hide-out, citing security concerns, but said that the 42 freed Iraqis marked the largest number of captives ever found at a single Al-Qaeda prison.

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