Baghdad, July 7 (IANS): A senior Iraqi army officer was killed in a mortar barrage west of Iraq's capital Baghdad, a security spokesman said Monday.
Maj. Gen. Najim Abdullah, commander of the army's 6th Division, was fatally wounded by a mortar barrage during a tour among security forces east of the town of Garma near the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan told a news conference in Baghdad.
He said that a total of 60 terrorists were killed during the past seven days in the northern and southern edges of Baghdad, Xinhua reported.
Iraqi security forces have been struggling during the past months to retake control of the militant-seized city of Fallujah, as well as the town of Garma and parts of Anbar provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad.