20 dead, 20 arrested in raids on al Qaeda hub

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Civilians helped coalition and Iraqi forces conduct a massive raid on an al Qaeda hideout in the town of Sherween, leaving 20 suspected terrorists dead and 20 more in coalition custody, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The militants were caught off guard when U.S. aircraft dropped eight 2,000-pound bombs and 14 quarter-ton bombs on river crossings and a bridge in the town northeast of Baghdad, said Staff Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem.

Kareem, who commands the Iraqi Security Forces in Diyala province, said the bombings isolated the terrorists who had infiltrated Sherween. The town's residents fought alongside the Iraqi forces during the raid, helping them kill and capture the terrorists, a U.S. military news release said.

"This operation was very important for the people of Sherween because we were able to find a very big hideout for the terrorists," Kareem said of Operation Saber Guardian, which began early Tuesday. "It was a very big surprise for the terrorists and the people that support them."

The raid will have a political impact on Diyala, which the U.S. military says has become a hotbed for al Qaeda terrorists who fled Baghdad after the U.S.-led security crackdown there, said Maj. John Woodward, executive officer of the U.S. troops involved in the operation.

The raid will help "facilitate Sunni resistance fighting in the Muqdadiya area as the people have grown tired of the destruction al Qaeda offers," he said.

Raids net 22 arrests

The U.S. military continued to target al Qaeda in raids early Wednesday, killing two suspected terrorists and arresting 22.

In one southwestern Baghdad raid, forces arrested a "suspected secret cell terrorist" believed to have connections to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, which is suspected of launching attacks in the capital.

In Mosul, troops detained five suspects believed to be members of al Qaeda in Iraq, the military said. Another terrorist was killed after threatening troops with a knife, according to the military.

Coalition forces killed another suspected terrorist in western Baghdad after he "continued to resist and made threatening motions toward the ground force," the military said. Troops also arrested an insurgent suspected of involvement in Baghdad bombing operations.

In Samarra, raids netted the arrests of four people suspected of kidnappings, assassinations and mortar attacks on coalition forces, the military said.

Various other raids resulted in the arrests of 11 suspected terrorists thought to have ties to al Qaeda in Iraq.

Other developments

• At least 20 gunmen stormed the house of Samarra's deputy mayor Abboud Hamid, shot him several times and killed him Wednesday.

• Iraqi police found 30 bullet-riddled bodies across the capital Wednesday, some of them blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs and showing signs of torture. Also, the U.S. military found 12 unidentified bodies Tuesday on a highway between Samarra and Tikrit.

• A British cleric trying to negotiate the release of five British hostages seized in Baghdad has returned to the United Kingdom amid reports that extremists were distributing threatening pamphlets that labeled him a spy, according to the cleric's office and the British Embassy in the Iraqi capital.

• A U.S. airstrike Tuesday killed three "suspected secret cell terrorists" near al-Majar al-Kabir, a predominately Shiite town close to the Iranian border, the military said Wednesday. The suspected terrorists are thought to have links to Iranian elements responsible for providing funds, weapons and military assistance to insurgents.

• A German woman held hostage in Iraq since February was freed Tuesday, but the fate of her adult son -- who was also kidnapped -- was not immediately known, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement issued Wednesday.

• The Associated Press reported that an investigating officer has recommended dismissing murder charges against a Marine accused in the slayings of three Iraqi men in an operation that left 24 civilians dead in Haditha. Lt. Paul Ware said in a Tuesday report that the government's theory that Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharatt executed the men was "incredible" and relied on contradictory statements by Iraqis, AP reported.

• Four people were killed and 15 others were wounded when three mortar rounds landed in a residential area in Iskandariya on Tuesday.

• Gunmen attacked an Iraqi police patrol Tuesday evening, killing four Iraqi police officers and wounding two others in northern Baghdad. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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