A US soldier was fatally shot guarding a bank in Baghdad today while the US military concluded two separate sweeps in and around the city arresting more than 1,200 people and seizing weapons, explosives and ammunition, the military said.
The death came a day after two separate attacks on convoys in which one soldier was killed. It brought to 149 the number of US personnel killed in combat since the March 20th start of the war two more than the 1991 Gulf War total for US deaths in combat.
The soldier guarding the Baghdad bank died at about 2 a.m. outside the Al-Rasheed Bank in western Baghdad.
The military also announced it had wrapped up two sweeps dubbed Operation Ivy Serpant and Operation Soda Mountain earlier in the week. Some 1,210 people were detained in the two operations, including 112 people suspected of close ties to the former Saddam Hussein regime.
The operations, which both ended on Thursday, netted some 6,000 mortar rounds, more than 1,400 rocket propelled grenades, explosives, AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons. None of those captured, however, were among those still at large from a list of 55 most wanted Iraqis from the former regime.