IED Kills Soldier in Iraq; Several Suspects Detained

The name of the soldier is being withheld pending next of kin notification.

The IED attack today followed similar attacks and the arrest of dozens of terrorism suspects over the past 24 hours.

Several suspects were detained for questioning June 21 north of Baghdad after being caught carrying weapons in an ambulance moving about after an imposed curfew. Military officials said Task Force Baghdad soldiers stopped the vehicle after witnessing it being driven erratically.

Inside, the soldiers found eight passengers, an AK-47 assault rifle, a 9 mm pistol and two ski masks. The ambulance was not carrying medical supplies or life-saving equipment except one litter-type stretcher.

The passengers admitted to having no medical training, and the vehicle had no license plates. The men arrested had no paperwork regarding the weapons, the military said.

Elsewhere, Task Force Baghdad soldiers arrested 10 more suspects June 20 following two attacks and the help of a local citizen.

Officials reported two men were detained after insurgents detonated a car bomb then opened fire on a Task Force Baghdad convoy June 20 south of Baghdad.

Three Iraqi army platoons responded to the attack, helping pin the suspects in a nearby building. There, two men were arrested.

A tip by a local Iraqi citizen led to the capture of eight more terror suspects in the Risalah district of southern Baghdad on June 20, military officials in Baghdad reported today.

Shortly after 6 p.m., the Iraqi citizen told Task Force Baghdad soldiers he had seen about 10 men running from the site of an attack on the Ministry of the Interior compound. The tipster said the suspects, carrying AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, ran into nearby houses.

When the soldiers searched the houses they found the suspects hiding in closets holding loaded weapons.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)