GIs nab Iraq bombing suspects

BAGHDAD - American troops grabbed two al Qaeda in Iraq bombing suspects and a Shiite militia leader yesterday in separate raids north and south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The command also said that U.S. soldiers killed four other suspects a day earlier after coming under fire from machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in Shiite sections of the capital.

One of the two al Qaeda suspects, captured with four aides in Mosul, is believed to have overseen security for the group's branch in that northern city.

The other al Qaeda in Iraq suspect was apprehended along with an assistant in Tikrit, a Sunni Arab city south of Mosul. He allegedly helped organize suicide bombings and the movement of foreign fighters into the country.

The suspected Shiite militia leader and five associates surrendered without incident at his home in Kut, southeast of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. said. He was accused of involvement in the murder of American soldiers, it said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said that a soldier died yesterday, following what it called a non-combat incident in Baghdad. *