Iraqi police and national guards detained more than 100 suspected militants today in raids around Haifa Street, a rebellious Sunni Muslim stronghold in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
In all 104 people were arrested, including nine who were suspected of having escaped from the US-led offensive against the rebel city of Falluja over the past 10 days, spokesman Mr Sabah Kadhim said. Many weapons were also seized, he added.
"They are mainly Iraqis but there may be some Syrians and other Arabs," Mr Kadhim said.
US troops were involved in backing up the raids, in an area where they have clashed with anti-American insurgents in recent months. Militants in Haifa Street and Falluja have been blamed by the Iraqi government for bomb attacks in the capital.
Washington has said that leading insurgents, including Jordanian al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had probably fled Falluja before the military onslaught began last Monday.