U.S. Marines in Iraq announced the arrest Saturday of two leaders of a militant group linked to wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as rescue workers in Baghdad uncovered seven more bodies from a deadly suicide bombing a day earlier.
The U.S. military said Marines had captured the two cell-leaders for a local Zarqawi-affiliated group during raids in the city of Ramadi.
The two men are accused of executing 11 Iraqi National Guardsmen, as well as planting bombs and smuggling foreign militants into Iraq.
The arrests came as rescue workers and police said they had dug seven bodies from the rubble of a Christmas Eve suicide bombing in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district. The attack left nine dead.
Meanwhile, police in Najaf say at least three civilians were killed in a car bomb attack.
Information for this report is provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.