House-to-house fighting: Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. helicopters fought about 40 gunmen house-to-house yesterday south of Baghdad. More than three dozen insurgents were killed, wounded or detained, the U.S. military said. Three Iraqi soldiers were injured.
Roadside bombs: South of Kirkuk, an Iraqi soldier was killed and two others wounded by a roadside bomb, police said. In a separate roadside bomb attack, a guard accompanying Gen. Abdul Aziz al-Mufti of the Iraqi army was killed when the general's convoy was attacked on the road between Kirkuk and Tikrit, officials said.
Czech restore manuscripts: Czech Republic foreign minister Cyril Svoboda returned several historical Iraqi manuscripts to the country's president in Prague yesterday after a Czech team of experts had restored the fragile documents. The manuscripts, including the declaration founding the Iraqi kingdom after its 1932 independence from Britain, had been neglected for decades under Saddam Hussein, officials said. The documents' restoration was part of the Czech Republic's aid program for Iraq, which also has included treating 32 Iraqi children for heart disorders and training about 300 Iraqi judges, diplomats and geology experts. President Jalal Talabani arrived Monday for a three-day visit to the Czech Republic, which also has allocated $78 million for reconstruction in Iraq and stationed 100 troops in Basra to help train Iraqi police.
Sunni guards arrested: Iraqi soldiers raided an office of Arab Sunni political leader Saleh al-Mutlak, arrested 10 of his guards and wounded one, a spokesman for Mutlak's Iraqi National Dialogue said. The raid took place in the Hay al-Jamaa district of Baghdad after clashes between Iraqi soldiers and insurgents, said the spokesman.
Marine death: Cpl. John R. Stalvey, 22, of Conroe, Texas, died Monday from an explosive in Karabilah. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune.
British poll: Seven out of 10 Londoners believe the Iraq war contributed to the July terrorist attacks in the city, and nearly as many want British troops withdrawn from Iraq, according to a MORI poll published yesterday.
