US forces arrest eight in Iraqi rebel stronghold

US forces arrested eight rebel suspects in a stronghold of US resistance north-west of Baghdad, the military said yesterday.

Those arrested include an ex-colonel accused of recruiting guerrillas and four suspected associates of fugitive former vice president Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who is believed to have a leading role in Iraq’s insurgency.

Three US soldiers died yesterday. Two US soldiers and an Iraqi translator were killed by a bomb in Baghdad.