Security forces launch massive terror crackdown

IRAQI security forces launched a high-profile crackdown targeting terrorists in Baghdad yesterday as insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 17 people.

Earlier, a British soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Iraq, while a US Marine died in a bomb attack north-west of Baghdad.

The latest bomb attacks came as the military announced the end of a massive four-day offensive in western Iraq.