US and Iraqi forces net nearly 100 people south of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Oct 19 (AFP) - US marines and Iraqi security forces rounded up nearly 100 people in their Operation Phantom Fury, aimed at defeating insurgents just south of Baghdad, the US military said in a statement Tuesday.
The sweeps in northern Babil province, aimed at cleaning up a belt of towns, known as Death's Triangle, including the communities of Mahmudiyah, Yusifiyah and Iskandariyah, where insurgents have kidnapped and killed with impunity for months.
"Iraqi security forces, backed by elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, rounded up nearly 100 suspected insurgents south of Baghdad Monday in a continuing offensive aimed at rooting out anti-Iraqi forces in Northern Babil province," the military said in a statement.
An elite Iraqi police team rounded up 87 people in the town of Iskandariyah Tuesday morning and another 10 people were detained in Yusifiyah.
The offensive launched the first week of October has netted more than 250 people since the start of the month in an area south of Baghdad, considered a gateway for insurgents heading to Baghdad or down south to Shiite areas.