Dozens of Qaeda-linked militants arrested in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces arrested at least 82 militants, including dozens linked to Al-Qaeda, in a series of operations across Iraq, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

"The army arrested 50 terrorists, many linked to Al-Qaeda, in Diyala province," a ministry statement said.

It said the security forces also found 2,000 Katyusha rockets during the operations in Diyala.

The province, northeast of Baghdad, is currently the second most dangerous in Iraq after the capital itself.

The ministry said "32 terrorists were also captured and seven cars full of explosives seized from Abu Ghraib", on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

The ministry however did not reveal when those arrests were made.

Iraqi and US forces have regularly carried out raids in Diyala and Baghdad to flush out Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Insurgents and sectarian militias, meanwhile, killed five people in a series of attacks in Iraq today, security officials said.

One person was killed and six wounded when a Katyusha rocket was fired into the northeast Baghdad neighbourhood of Mustansiriyah, a security official and a medic said.

Another person was killed and six others wounded in a roadside bombing in central Baghdad.

South of the capital, three people were killed near the town of Musayyib when gunmen opened fire randomly on a group of civilians in the village of Tunis, a local police officer said.