Updated at 7:40 p.m. EDT, May 22, 2009
At least two Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded in light violence. Operations in Diyala and Basra provinces continue, but another local official in Diyala complained that the operation there is not targeting gunmen.
Muthanna al-Tamemi of the Diyala provincial council said that operation Bashaer al-Kheir II has moved into areas where residents fought against al-Qaeda. He believes that security forces are using false information to arrest suspects, some of them prominent area leaders. Operation Bashaer al-Kheir I last summer was also plagued with the arrests of innocent people. On the surface, both operations appear more focused on corralling local governments and security personnel, both Sunni and Kurdish, than on gunmen.
In Mosul, a bomb late last night killed a policeman and wounded six others. A woman was injured during a bomb attack targeting police.
In Baghdad, mortars wounded two people in Ghadeer. A roadside bomb in Talbiyah and falling mortars in the Green Zone left no casualties.
U.S. forces returned fire on a gunman in Tikrit, killing him.
Thirty suspects were detained in Garma.
Four al-Qaeda suspects were arrested in Suwayra.
In Basra, 40 suspects were detained along with several unlicensed vehicles. As in Diyala, security forces here could be using ongoing operations to harass rivals.
Rockets and mortars were confiscated near Nasariya.
A weapons cache was found west of Baghdad in Aqur Quf.
Arms and munitions were discovered in Amara.
