In new violence, a U.S. Marine assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action Friday during security operations in the Al Anbar Province, the Marines said in a statement, which did not provide any other details.
A roadside bomb explosion struck an Iraqi National Guards patrol south of Mahmoudiya, a town about 25 miles south of Baghdad. It left one guard dead and six wounded, an ING officer said Saturday.
In the town of Youssifiya, just south of Baghdad, another bomb exploded early Saturday, wounding two guardsmen who were on patrol, police said.
Iraq forces on Friday discovered and cleared four improvised explosive devices, five weapons caches and detained 122 suspected insurgents, the U.S. military said Saturday. The sweep appeared to be the latest in a series of anti-insurgency operations in the so-called Sunni Triangle in central Iraq.
more