IRAQ:US and Iraqi forces began major military operations yesterday along Baghdad's northern and southern belts, while Iraqi officials said 36 people were killed in clashes in southern Iraq
An official in the office of Iraq's national security adviser confirmed the operations, which were also launched in the Tharthar area near Fallujah and in Diyala province north-east of the capital.
Iraqi security forces were in the lead, backed by US forces, the official said. Some local tribesman had joined the fight, siding with Iraqi police in trying to oust the militiamen from their town. The battle included at least 11 mortar strikes on police headquarters in Nasiriyah.
Clashes continued throughout yesterday, and local authorities imposed an indefinite curfew on the city, police said. By the afternoon, the fighting had spilled over into the Souk al-Sheikh area south of Nasiriyah, and into al-Rifaie, north of the city, police said.
Nearly 30 other people were killed or found dead in attacks nationwide.
In Baghdad, two car bombs exploded near a gas station in southern Baghdad, killing at least seven people who had been waiting to buy fuel, police said. Up to 25 others were injured, and four cars were incinerated by the blasts.
Nearby, gunmen ambushed an interior ministry convoy, killing an Iraqi colonel and his two guards, police said.
Also yesterday, four civilians were killed and 13 injured when a car bomb ripped through a busy vegetable market in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, police said.
The US military said two people were killed and 10 wounded when a vehicle disguised as a delivery truck blew up in Fallujah.
A suicide car bomber also struck a secondary school that had been commandeered by Iraqi police for use as a station in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Samarra, killing at least four policemen and wounding five others, an officer said.
Meanwhile, a Catholic priest has been released in Iraq after being kidnapped and held for ransom this month, the Rome-based Catholic news agency Misna said yesterday.
Fr Hani Abdul Ahad was snatched by unidentified gunmen in Baghdad on June 6th. Four fellow Christians who were held with him were released two days later.
Misna quoted Shlemon Warduni, auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, as saying the priest had been released on Sunday and was well. The kidnappers had asked for a ransom, he said, without giving further details.
Another Chaldean Catholic priest, Ragheed Aziz Kani, was killed this month by gunmen in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The Chaldean rite is one of the ancient rites of the Catholic Church. - ( PA and Reuters)