U.S. and Iraqi forces seized nine suspected insurgents in overnight raids on the lawless town of Latifiya, south of Baghdad, U.S. officers said on Saturday. It was the latest in a series of operations codenamed Operation Plymouth Rock, launched four days ago by U.S. Marines in a cluster of towns along the Euphrates river that have become popularly known as the "triangle of death". A further arrest was made further north, officers said. Iraqi police commandos from the nearby city of Hilla formed the bulk of the 200-strong force in six raids in Latifiya coordinated by the Marines, Captain Tad Douglas told reporters at the headquarters of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "We got nine detainees," Douglas said after returning from the mission at Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad. A seized computer would also be analysed by intelligence officers. The suspects put up no resistance and there was no fighting, Douglas said -- typical of the operations conducted in the area recently, which follow the all-out U.S. assault on the rebel city of Falluja, upstream to the northwest. The area around Latifiya has become a byword for danger to travellers on the main highways south from the capital. Bombs and ambushes have killed U.S. and Iraqi security forces, while foreign civilians have also been killed and kidnapped.
