Terror suspects detained in Baghdad's Sadr City

Story Highlights

• NEW: Three U.S. soldiers die, two in roadside bombing
• NEW: Sunni mosque destroyed in southern Baghdad district
• NEW: U.S. military calls Monday copter downing a "complex attack"
• Investigators say they suspect Shiite militia in Finance Ministry kidnappings

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S.-led coalition forces detained five suspected terrorists in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood Wednesday, including their cell leader, a U.S. military statement said.

"Intelligence reports indicate the cell leader that was targeted and detained during the morning's operation is suspected of being a key weapons trafficker ... of small arms, mortars and other munitions," the military said, including "explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training."

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman has denied the allegations of Iranian involvement in Iraq, chalking it up to U.S. "propaganda."

In other operations, Iraqi special operation forces have detained the suspected leader of a kidnapping and assassination cell that was operating in Baghdad, a U.S. military statement released Wednesday said.

"The individual is also suspected of kidnapping a nuclear power scientist and murdering both the director and deputy of citizenship and naturalization," the military said.

The suspect and a second individual were detained Tuesday.

In an operation southeast of Baghdad in Wasit province, Iraqi police working with Multi-National Division -- Central South detained 13 people suspected of insurgent activities, a Wednesday military statement said. Three of those apprehended were on the province's most-wanted list.

Dubbed Viper's Bite, the raid also netted a variety of weapons and munitions.

In a series of operations beginning over the weekend, Iraqi forces detained 15 suspected insurgents in the Baghdad area, another U.S. military statement said.

Shiite cleric's Mehdi Army blamed for kidnappings

Investigators said Wednesday they believe this week's kidnappings at an Iraqi Finance Ministry building were carried out by a Shiite militia in retaliation for the recent deaths of two of its senior members.

An Interior Ministry official said investigators think members of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army kidnapped five Britons and two Iraqis on Tuesday in Baghdad.

The kidnappings are thought to be reprisals for the deaths of Sheikh Azhar al-Dulaimi, who was killed May 19 in Baghdad during a U.S. military operation, and Wissam Abu Qadir, whom Iraqi special operations forces killed Friday in Basra, the official said.

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are searching Sadr City -- a hub of the al-Sadr movement -- for the abducted Britons and Iraqis. Security officials were questioning residents of Sadr City neighborhoods, witnesses said. (Watch troops search the back streets of Sadr City )

The U.S. military said an overnight raid in Sadr City was not specific to the abductions.

The Iraqi government condemned the kidnappings and has taken "a number of urgent measures" in an effort to find the hostages, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said.

"A thorough investigation has been launched into this serious breach of security, and the government is in close contact with British authorities on the developing situation," Zebari said.

Meanwhile, the British government is working closely with Iraqi authorities, said British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who was in Germany for a G-8 meeting.

Security handover in Kurdish region

Iraqi police and soldiers on Wednesday were slated formally to take over security responsibility for three provinces in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, according to the U.S. military.

With the handover of Duhuk, Irbil and Sulaimaniya provinces, seven of the country's 18 provinces will be back under the control of Iraqi security forces.

According to the U.S. military, the decision was made "after careful assessment" by ground commanders and Iraqi leaders in local and regional governments.

Turkey, meanwhile, has sent large numbers of troops and weaponry to bolster its border with Iraq as it considers crossing the border to hit Kurdish rebel bases, The Associated Press reported. (Full story)

In December, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said he expected to see "the entire country" placed back into "provincial Iraqi control" by early fall of this year.

In April, the British military relinquished control of Maysan province in the south. Other southern provinces under Iraqi control include Najaf, Muthanna and Thiqar.

119 U.S. troops killed in May

Three U.S. soldiers died in Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday, the military said, two of them in a roadside bombing in Baghdad and a third of a "non-battle-related cause."

The soldiers' names were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The deaths bring to 3,463 the number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq. Seven civilian Defense Department contractors also have been killed in the war. In May, 119 troops have died.

Ten U.S. troops died in Iraq on Monday, including eight killed in a deadly chain of events that began when a U.S. helicopter was shot down.

A U.S. military official said the strike on the helicopter and Bradley fighting vehicles in Diyala province appears to have been a "complex attack."

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, a deputy director for regional operations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Kiowa helicopter apparently was downed by ground fire, killing two pilots, and Bradleys racing to the scene were bombed, killing six soldiers.

Wiggins said insurgents have executed sophisticated procedures against helicopters. Nearly a dozen have crashed or have been forced into hard landings under fire in Iraq this year.

"What I can tell you is that we continue to adjust our flight maneuvering and our routes in order to not become predictable and in order to make it more difficult for them to execute their TTPs," he said, meaning tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Other developments

• An explosion Wednesday destroyed the Omar al-Farooq mosque, a Sunni place of worship in the Risalah neighborhood of Baghdad's southern Rashid district, the U.S. military said. No casualties were reported.

• Sen. Joe Lieberman paid a visit to Baghdad on Wednesday and said he is seeing "progress" on the ground but said "there's a long way to go." He visited a joint security station where U.S. and Iraqi forces are based, a forward operating base and a local market. The Connecticut independent has largely backed the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.

• A car bomb killed one civilian and wounded five Wednesday in the Sadr City area, an Interior Ministry official said. The explosive detonated in a parked car.

• The Interior Ministry reported that 22 unidentified bodies were found in the capital Wednesday, bringing the number of such bodies found this month to 717.

CNN's Arwa Damon, Paula Hancocks, Jomana Karadsheh, Cal Perry and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

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