The US military says American warplanes have launched air strikes on sites in Iraq near the Syrian border, killing some 40 insurgents. In a statement on Saturday, US military officials said seven missiles were fired on heavily-armed militants who were stopping and searching cars near the western town of Karabilah.
Meantime, Iraqi officials said a former member of an elite commando unit (Wolf Brigade) blew himself up inside the unit's headquarters, killing three people. Insurgents opened fire on a minibus carrying construction workers in Baghdad, killing at least 11 Iraqis and wounding three others. Also today, Interior Minister Bayan Jabor praised a sweeping crackdown on insurgents in the Iraqi capital. He says Operation Lightning has led to the arrests of 13-hundred terrorists and has sharply cut the number of car bombings in the city.