BAGHDAD, Aug. 19 (Xinhua)-- U.S. and Iraqi security forces launched
overnight raids on the government offices in the volatile province of Diyala,
northeast of Baghdad, killing the governor's secretary and detaining others, a
provincial police source said on Tuesday.
U.S. and Iraqi Forces air-dropped troops at about 2:00 a.m. (2300 GMT on
Monday) on the buildings of the provincial government offices with the aim of
detaining the governor of Diyala Raad Rasheed Mullah Jawad, who was not present
at the scene during the raid, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
During the raid, the troops clashed with the guards of the offices, killing
Abbas Ali Hmoud, the governor's secretary and wounding three policemen, the
source said.
The troops also detained Hussein al-Zubaidi, head of the security committee
of the provincial council, the source added.
Another force raided Diyala University and detained its chancellor, Nezar
al-Khafaji, after clashes with the guards resulted in the wounding of four
security members, he said.
The U.S.-backed Iraqi unit withdrew from the area after conducting its
raids in the capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad.
Last week, Jawad survived unhurt an assassination attempt when a suicide
bomber struck his convoy in central Baquba.
On June 20, Iraqi forces detained Rafie Abdul Jabbar, deputy governor of
Maysan province in south of Baghdad for charges of aiding militias loyal to
radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The attacks came as U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces are conducting
major offensive against extremist Sunni and Shiite militiamen in Diyala which
stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border.