Insurgents held in Iraq raids

US troops captured 12 suspected militants in raids across Iraq today, the military said.

The operations targeted members of al Qaida in Iraq and others suspected of building and planting roadside bombs, the military said in a statement.

Five suspects were detained in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the statement said. All were accused of involvement in car bomb and rocket attacks on US troops, it said.

Ramadi is the provincial capital of Iraq’s volatile western Anbar province.

Also in Anbar, troops captured three suspects accused of ties with al Qaida in Iraq in Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, the military said.

In the capital, two men were detained for allegedly procuring bomb-making materials, the statement said.

And in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, two others were detained. They were accused of helping foreign fighters come to Iraq, as well as of involvement in roadside bomb operations, it said.