| The US military has arrested 128 suspects and seized large quantities of arms and explosives during 24 hours of raids across western Iraq. The suspects were netted in operations on Friday local time by three divisions across the vast Anbar province, which stretches from near Baghdad to the borders with Syria and Jordan. The 82nd Airborne Division conducted 151 patrols and carried out searches in the area, arresting 78 suspects and preventing 105 people from entering illegally through the Syrian frontier, it said. In searches by paratroopers in the towns of Mahmudiyah, Iskandriyah and the insurgency-hit Fallujah, 45 people were arrested, including 12 "targeted individuals", it said. US soldiers also recovered a large haul of weapons, including 23 kilograms of TNT explosives, 41 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, machine guns and bomb-making equipment. Insurgents shot down a US helicopter in Fallujah on Friday local time, killing one soldier and injuring another. The aircraft had been providing support to raids in the area on merchants' premises. In the city of Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, troops also captured five suspects and recovered small arms and communication equipment. |