US Says 34 Terrorists Killed in Offensives in Iraq
20 June 2007
The U.S. military in Iraq says troops have killed at least 34 suspected terrorists in offensives north and south of Baghdad aimed at crushing the insurgents.
The military says troops killed 30 suspected terrorists and found numerous weapons and bombs in a massive operation against al-Qaida in Iraq northeast of Baghdad. Ten thousand U.S. troops launched the operation early Tuesday in Diyala province.
In a simultaneous offensive southeast of Baghdad, U.S. troops killed four insurgents and detained 62.
The military also says U.S. and Iraqi soldiers discovered an orphanage this month housing 24 severely malnourished and abused boys in a Baghdad neighborhood Fajr. The boys, ages 3 to 15 years old, were found naked in a darkened room, with many tied to their beds.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Tuesday's truck bombing outside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad has risen to 87. More than 200 others were wounded in the attack, which Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed on Sunni extremists.
The bombing came two days after the lifting of a city-wide curfew put in place to prevent sectarian attacks after last week's bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in Samarra. The shrine bombing sparked retaliatory attacks on Sunni mosques.
The U.S. military reported Tuesday the deaths of one American soldier in the offensive and another in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad.
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