US planes destroy 'bomb factory' in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: US aircraft on Wednesday morning destroyed an alleged "bomb factory" in southern Baghdad believed to have been operated by militants linked to Al Qaeda, according to US military officials.

The "factory" housed explosives and around 80 barrels of unknown chemicals, the military said in a statement. No information on possible casualties resulting from the raid was given.

Also in Baghdad Wednesday, US troops lifted their blockade of the predominantly Shia Sadr City district, at the order of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The Iraqi premier had complained to the US army after the blockade, instituted by US forces searching for an American soldier kidnapped on Oct 23, paralysed parts of the capital.

Violence in western Baghdad Wednesday claimed the lives of two civilians. An explosive device was detonated on a commuter bus, killing two passengers, wounding three and causing damage to nearby vehicles.

Police cordoned off the blast site, and ambulances rushed the wounded to nearby hospitals, sources said.

The military also said that US forces killed one militant the previous morning in an exchange of fire during a raid in the Shia town of Balad, 80 km north of Baghdad, the scene of heavy recent fighting.

The source said that another man, believed to have strong links with foreign terrorist groups and to be a possible leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was captured during the same raid Tuesday.

One US soldier also died Tuesday from injuries sustained in an operation in al-Anbar province, the US army said.

In Samara, 125 km north of Baghdad, a senior judge in a Tikrit court was kidnapped near his private residence Tuesday, police sources said.

Judge Saadoon Hassan al-Azawi was abducted by an armed group as he was preparing to leave for work. The incident marks the third attack on an Iraqi judge in the Salah el-din governorate.

Meanwhile, Iraqi television announced that a university professor of history was shot dead by unknown gunmen west of the capital. The professor formerly taught at the university of al-Anbar, a province in the western part of the country.