Mortars and rockets fired on Baghdad prison, 55 arrested

BAGHDAD – Insurgents pounded the main prison in Baghdad with 33 mortar bombs and five rockets late on Wednesday before US troops shot dead one person and arrested 55, a US military spokesman told AFP yesterday.

“Between 6:30 pm and 6:50 pm (1530 and 1550 GMT), insurgents fired 33 mortar rounds and five rockets” at Abu Ghraib prison on the western edge of Baghdad, a military spokesman said. “Coalition forces engaged and killed one enemy, 55 people were detained for questioning,” he said.One soldier was lightly wounded and treated for his injuries, he added.Abu Ghraib is one of the largest US-run prison facilities in Iraq and was a notorious centre under former dictator Saddam Hussein.US forces have regularly come under fire and lost soldiers at the prison.Elsewhere, a bomb exploded yesterday morning in front of a US military convoy in Baquba, 60 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, injuring one Iraqi policemen but failing to harm any American soldiers, police and army officials said.The device exploded at 07h20 yesterday “in the path of a US military convoy, which was not harmed,” local police official Amer Salman told AFP.But Iraqi policeman Mohammed Yassin was hurt in the blast, said a doctor at the city’s general hospital.A US military spokesman confirmed there had been an explosion in the area and that there had been no American casualties.On Wednesday, US troops captured seven people with possible links to the international Al Qaeda terror group along with 15 others in a dawn raid on Baquba, the military said.”The intended targets were suspected members of anti-coalition operatives and may have links to Al Qaeda,” the spokesman told AFP.The US 4th Infantry Division had specifically targeted seven of the 22 people captured, according to the spokesman, who had no information on their nationality.- Nampa-AFP”Coalition forces engaged and killed one enemy, 55 people were detained for questioning,” he said. One soldier was lightly wounded and treated for his injuries, he added. Abu Ghraib is one of the largest US-run prison facilities in Iraq and was a notorious centre under former dictator Saddam Hussein. US forces have regularly come under fire and lost soldiers at the prison. Elsewhere, a bomb exploded yesterday morning in front of a US military convoy in Baquba, 60 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, injuring one Iraqi policemen but failing to harm any American soldiers, police and army officials said. The device exploded at 07h20 yesterday “in the path of a US military convoy, which was not harmed,” local police official Amer Salman told AFP. But Iraqi policeman Mohammed Yassin was hurt in the blast, said a doctor at the city’s general hospital. A US military spokesman confirmed there had been an explosion in the area and that there had been no American casualties. On Wednesday, US troops captured seven people with possible links to the international Al Qaeda terror group along with 15 others in a dawn raid on Baquba, the military said. “The intended targets were suspected members of anti-coalition operatives and may have links to Al Qaeda,” the spokesman told AFP. The US 4th Infantry Division had specifically targeted seven of the 22 people captured, according to the spokesman, who had no information on their nationality. – Nampa-AFP