Rockets, mortars kill 4 in Baghdad

A string of mortar rounds and rockets slammed into several areas in Baghdad this evening, including the US-protected Green Zone…

A string of mortar rounds and rockets slammed into several areas in Baghdad this evening, including the US-protected Green Zone and an airport housing complex, killing at least four people and wounding nearly 20.

Six mortar rounds struck a workers' housing complex near Baghdad's international airport, killing two people and wounding 10. Rockets also struck the Green Zone  but no casualties were reported, according to an Interior Ministry official.

Meanwhile, a roadside bombing in the northwestern city of Mosul killed three civilians and wounded four others. The city is what the US describes as the last major urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

And in Baghdad US  troops captured a breakaway Shiite militia leader suspected of being a powerful criminal boss and providing Iranian weapons to fighters in western Baghdad, the military said.

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The arrest occurred a day after a military spokesman said that, in the past week, Iraqi and US forces had captured 212 weapons caches around the country, with growing evidence of an Iranian link.

The main suspect arrested was reportedly in charge of all Shiite militia fighters in the western half of the city. The area west of the Tigris River that divides the capital has been a Sunni stronghold but has seen an increased Shiite presence.