Four Qaida militants killed in U.S. raids north of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, June 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. troops killed four suspected al-Qaida militants and detained 18 others in raids north of Baghdad targeting al-Qaida bombing networks in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Friday.

In a series of operations on Friday near the town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, U.S. troops, at one location, were attacked by small arms fire from a nearby rooftop, prompting the troops to fire back, killing four attackers, a military statement said.

The statement identified one of the attackers as a man wanted for "his association with weapons trafficking in the bombing network."

The troops also detained 16 more suspected militants at other locations during raids on Thursday and Friday, the statement said.

Acting on intelligence tip-off, U.S. troops captured one more suspected al-Qaida media network key leader who was also believed to produce document forgeries during an operation north of Baghdad, according to the statement.

In another operation, U.S. troops detained another man believed to conspire directly with an al-Qaida leader in Baghdad who "oversees the terrorist network in the city," the statement added.

Recently, U.S. and Iraqi security forces have captured or killed many al-Qaida leaders for indiscriminate killings and disturbing stability across the country.

On June 6, U.S. troops killed four suspected al-Qaida militants and detained more than 20 others in a raid targeting al-Qaida network in Iraq's northern province of Ta'mim.