The militants fire on the troops who then fire back killing three gunmen, one of them a wanted member.

The Pakistanis rejected assertions that the suicide attack, which also killed five gunmen, was carried out by a Pakistani group.

Iraqi security forces were called in to help, and continued the battle, killing six gunmen.

US Marines guarding his residence killed two gunmen there.

On 24 November, the military conducted an operation in Rastan, during which they killed 16 gunmen and captured a large cache of weapons.

A police spokesman said the authorities had killed eight gunmen and captured 54 in the fighting.

In a recent report, the Defense Ministry said the government had killed 150 paramilitary gunmen and captured 934 in the last four years.

Soon after the shootouts, which happened in the early morning, the authorities carried out an operation to find those responsible, killing five gunmen.

US forces killed five gunmen who had attacked a police station in al-Saqlawiyah, including one who was wearing a suicide vest.

The next day, Manuel responded by killing two gunmen allegedly responsible for killing his son.