U.S. Forces Detain Ramadi Police Colonel, Search Station

American troops detained a senior Iraqi police officer at his home in Ramadi during the early hours of 4 August 2004, local police sources told reporters.

Colonel Imad Suleiman Falah was taken from his residence at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time with no reason given to those present. A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said he had no information on the reports.

A unit of American soldiers also searched the al-Faruq police station in central Ramadi that same night, an operation that lasted more than three hours. No details were disclosed about what prompted the search or what, if anything, was found.

Ramadi is the principal city of Al-Anbar province, west of Baghdad. The province had become one of the most volatile areas for coalition forces after the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, with American troops facing repeated armed attacks across the region.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.