US and Iraqi forces began an offensive operation yesterday in the capital of a northern province where fierce fighting has taken place with Sunni Arab insurgents, the US command said.
At least 36 suspected militants were detained during one raid at a major intersection at 4am in Baqouba, 60km northeast of Baghdad, police said.
But attacks by suspected insurgents continued outside the capital of Diyala Province.
Drive-by shootings in two nearby towns killed two civilians and wounded five, the police said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for their own security.
Elsewhere, a truck driving at high speed slammed into a bus stop in a town south of Baghdad, killing about 20 people and wounding 15, police said.
The truck hit a group of Iraqis in al-Wahada, 35km south of Baghdad, as they were waiting for buses to the capital, police Lieutenant Muhammed al-Shemari said. He said it didn't appear to be an accident because the truck, an empty fuel tanker, didn't have a flat tire or any other obvious mechanical problems that would have caused the crash.
The driver fled the overturned truck but was caught by witnesses and turned over to police, al-Shemari said. Other witnesses found the body of a person in the cabin of the vehicle, he said.
The cause of the crash was being investigated.
Farther to the south, US forces killed an insurgent who was caught planting a roadside bomb at 10:30am on a major highway about 60km south of Baghdad, police Captain Muthanna Khalid said.
A roadside bomb also hit a police patrol in Youssifiyah, 20km south of Iraq's capital, killing one policeman and wounding six, police 1st Lieutenant Mohammed Kheyoun said.
Baghdad seemed unusually quiet for a city that has been suffering widespread sectarian violence involving Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
No major attacks were reported by midday yesterday, although Iraqi police said they found 12 bodies of people who had been handcuffed, shot to death and left in scattered places in western and southern Baghdad.
In Qatar, where Iraqi athletes were competing at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge appealed for the release of Iraqi Olympic officials who were kidnapped in Iraq in July.
Rogge urged the kidnappers to free Iraqi Olympic Committee chairman Ahmed al-Hijiya and 30 other people who were taken hostage at gunpoint during a daytime raid on a sports conference in Baghdad.
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