Continued fighting in Iraq, new kidnappings

A statement for the coalition forces in Iraq said that these forces detained since the fifth of January some 249 suspects in Musil city, to the north of Baghdad, over carrying out hostile activities.

On Sunday, the American army announced the killing of one of its soldiers in Musil following armed conflicts there on Saturday. A building dedicated for voting for the elections in Musil was exposed to an attack launched by gunmen by missiles and machine guns and this resulted in injuring one person according to medical sources.

In the south of Baghdad, the Iraqi police detained on Saturday evening Majid Faisal, the representative of the Iraqi Islamic party in the governorates of the central Euphrates area which includes the governorates of Babel, Karbala, Najaf, Dewaneyah and Muthanna.

The police in Hella said that unidentified gunmen on Sunday blew up the election center in the city but no casualties were observed.

In a new outcome for the victims of al-Nasereyah hospital fire which erupted on Sunday, a police source said that the number of killed increased to 14 in addition to 75 injured.

Meantime, a group calling itself al-Mujahiseen groups said in a video tape broadcast by al-Jazeera TV, the kidnapping of one Brazilian engineer in an attack they had launched in cooperation with Ansar al-Sunnah army against an American company near Beji, also resulted in killing one British and one Brazilian.

This coincided with the release of 8 Chinese who were held in Iraq since the beginning of the current month. The Chinese embassy in Baghdad confirmed news of their release. However, Chinese official sources said that the Chinese diplomats in Iraq were not able to contact the released hostages.