Baghdad - US forces in Iraq and the Iraqi government agreed to release or transfer detained Iraqis in US-run prisons from the beginning of 2009, the US military said in a statement on Thursday.

Every month US forces will transfer to Iraqi authorities about 1500 detainees. The two parties have formed a mutual committee to supervise the transfer.

Files of detainees will be reviewed by Iraqi authorities to decide on the future of prisoners. Some detainees will be freed, while others will be transferred to Iraqi prisons.

Baghdad - US forces in Iraq killed a man suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda and arrested 18 other suspects Wednesday, the US military said.

US forces made the arrests during a crackdown on al-Qaeda militants in central Iraq.

Meanwhile, in the city of Talafar in Nineveh province, Iraqi police extended a curfew on the city after rumors that two explosive-laden cars had entered the city.

The police imposed the curfew on Monday, the first day of the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

Baghdad - The head of one of Iraq's most volatile provinces said the province's upcoming council elections should be postponed due to violence, local media reported on Tuesday.

Ibrahim Hassan Baglan, head of the Provincial Council in Diyala Province, called for a six-month delay due to the lack of security in the volatile province and the displacement of some 27,000 citizens in religious violence.

Baghdad  - An explosive device went off in central Baquba on Sunday, leaving three people dead and 43 people injured, including the city's mayor, according to police sources.

The device, which was placed inside a shop in the market, targeted the mayor, who was touring the area with other officials. He was transferred to the US forces hospital in the northern city, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 6 : Fifteen-year-old Rania al Ambaki, a resident of Baquba, an al-Qaeda hotspot north of Baghdad, was made into a human bomb at an Iraq security checkpoint recently.

According to a CBS report, Ambaki was promptly immobilized, and officers jammed cell phone signals that could detonate the explosives. Thereafter, her suicide vest was removed.

Baquba is known to be a recruiting ground for women suicide bombers. Last year, there were eight women bombers. So far this year, there have been 35.

Bagh