Security Summary: September 13, 2007

Above: A young Iraqi boy stands aside as soldiers from the 23rd Infantry Battalion search his home in Muqdadiyah today.

RAMADI - Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the most influential leader of an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that joined forces with U.S. troops to fight al Qaeda in western Anbar province, was killed in a bomb attack near his home, police said. Two bodyguards and his private secretary were also killed.

BAQUBA - Four suspected insurgents, including two women, were killed during operations targeting al Qaeda near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. One of the women was attempting to draw a pistol from a weapons belt and the other tried to activate a grenade she had dropped from under her clothing, it said.

BAGHDAD - Five people were killed and 10 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a police patrol close to the Shi'ite Sadr City district of northeastern Baghdad, police said. Other police sources said four people died.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces killed four suspected insurgents and detained 51 others in different parts of Baghdad during the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.

MOSUL - A sniper killed a policeman in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Gunmen wounded another four policemen in two other attacks.

FALLUJA - One policeman was killed and two wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - An initial 43 Iraqi detainees were released from a U.S. military facility as part of a release programme during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, an adviser to Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said. The U.S. military said it would release between 50 and 80 detainees a day during Ramadan.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded three in Baghdad's eastern Zayouna Baghdad, police said.

TAJI - Iraqi and U.S. forces detained 12 suspected insurgents on Wednesday in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

From Reuters/Alternet