& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Attacks prompt vehicle ban in Iraqi city

AP, Baghdad
Iraqi authorities ordered a one-day vehicle ban in Baqouba on Friday in response to a scries of deadly suicide bombings and other attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq against predominandy Sunni fighters that have allied witn the United States.
The US military also stepped up operations against al-Qaeda cells and networks in Diyala province, of which Baqouba is the capital.
The US military announced it had killed a local leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Muhammad Khalil Ibrahim, during a Dec. 28 airstrike in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, in an area known as the "Triangle of Death" just south of Baghdad.
Baqouba police chief Brig. Hasan al Obaidi said the ban was imposed because of the "increased violent events during last week." The ban in the city about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad also aimed to protect worshippers going to mosques for Friday prayers. It was to last until late afternoon.
A scries of suicide attacks have targeted members of die burgeoning Sunni tribal movement, including one attack in downtown Baqouba on Wednesday that police said killed seven people; the US military said four people died.
Tne attacks intensified after a Dec. 29 message from Osama bin Laden warning Iraq's Sunni Arabs against joining the US-funded groups fightingal -Qaeda.
The overwhelmingly Sunni groups are known as Awakening Councils in some areas, and as "concerned local citizens" by the US military in others. Iraqis used the general term "Sahwa, " or awakening, to describe all of them. There are more than 70,000 men in about 300 such groups being bankrolled by the US around Iraq, and the number is expected to grow.
The groups have been credited with playing an important role in reducing violence by 60 percent around the country in the past six months.
They have also helped push al-Qaeda out of Anbar province, just as the inflow of thousands of US troops pushed insurgents north of Baghdad. Most are thought to have sought shelter in the northeast Diyala river valley region and around the town of Muqdadiyah.
The US military said Friday it had killed two insurgents and detained 12 in that area. But the operations also resulted in the deaths of two American soldiers the wounding of another in a small arms attack on Thursday in Diyala, the military said.
One of those captured included an alleged leader of Ansar al-Sunna, a terror group affiliated with al-Qaeda, the military said. The statement did not identify him by name, but said he had escaped from a hospital, killing five policemen, after being injured in a previous Iraqi operation.
The US military wants the anti-al-Qaeda groups to eventually be integrated, with about a quarter joining the Iraqi security forces and the rest entering the civilian work force.