U.S., Iraqi forces detain 30 policemen near Baghdad

BAGHDAD, May 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. and Iraqi security forces detained 30 policemen in an overnight raid on their police station in an area west of Baghdad, a local police source said on Tuesday.

A joint U.S. and Iraqi force raided the al-Walid police station at about 3:00 a.m. (2400 GMT) at the edge of Abu Ghraib area, some 25 km west of Baghdad on the provincial border between Baghdad and Iraq's western province of Anbar, detaining 30 policemen, including two police officers, and seized unlicensed weapons, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The raid was based on intelligence reports which said that the policemen were collaborating with insurgents in the area who hide their weapons in the building of the police station after they carry out attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces, the source said.

"Most of the personnel of the police station originally were paramilitary members of local Awakening Council group, and they have joined the Iraqi police more than a year ago," the source added.

Since the raid in the early morning, U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces launched a search operation in some houses of the area, while U.S. helicopters were flying over the area, he said.

"The attacked area is now under the control of the Iraqi Army and no policeman could be seen in the streets since the raid," he added.

Iraqi government has joined many of the Sunni Awakening Council groups in its security forces in return for their role in fighting al-Qaida militants in the troubled Sunni areas.

The Awakening Council group, also known as Sons of Iraq, consists of armed groups, including some powerful anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent groups, who turned their rifles against the al-Qaida network after the latter exercised indiscriminate killings against both Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities.

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