US and Iraqi forces killed nine suspected fighters from the al-Qaeda terrorist network in an operation in Talafar in northern Iraq as meanwhile thousands of Iraqi troops deployed in the southern city of Basra to crack down on lawbreakers, the US military and Iraqi officials said Thursday according to DPA. Three Iraqi troops were killed and three wounded in the anti-al- Qaeda operation which targeted a suspected insurgents' training camp Sunday. Three civilians were also wounded and eight suspects detained. The military said troops discovered electrical wire and blasting caps for making improvised explosive devices as well as guns, grenades, a rocket launcher, a landmine and more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition. The US and Iraqi officials say Nineveh province has become a safe haven for Sunni insurgents who were driven out of Baghdad and surrounding areas after the launch of a major offensive there. Meanwhile in southern Iraq, about 3,000 additional troops have been deployed in Basra as part of a security crackdown on criminal gangs and armed groups. The city police backed by Iraqi army units launched the operation after a recent surge in killings and kidnappings, the state-owned newspaper al-Sabah cited the city police chief, Abdel-Jalil Khalaf, as saying. A senior officer from the Nassiriyah police department, Major- General Qassim Ebid, and his three companions were killed in central Basra Monday. Qassim was a member of the Shiite Badr militia of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council.
