By KUNA,
Baghdad : American forces operating in Iraq have killed five gunmen and caught 20 others in separate military operations, the US Army said in a statement released on Friday.
The army statement said the gunmen were killed and two others were arrested near Al-Hella, the largest city in the southern province of Babel, in an operation conducted upon an intelligence tip.
The operation targeted the house of a local militia, called “Al-Majamee Al-Khassah,” involved in terrorist action. The US troops exchanged gunfire with gunmen when they tried to burst into the building.
The militia is known as an offshoot of Al-Mahdi Army.
Separately, the troops arrested 18 gunmen of Al-Qaeda in operations in Beiji, Al-Tharthar Lake region, the Tigris Wadi and the northern belt of Baghdad.