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Top Sunni's son, others held after bomb found

BAGHDAD - Iraqi troops arrested the son of a leading Sunni politician and dozens of his associates after a car bomb was found near his compound and keys to the vehicle were found on one of his bodyguards, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Friday.

Five U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi civilian were injured when they detonated the car bomb near the compound of Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the biggest Sunni bloc in Parliament, the U.S. military said.

Dulaimi's bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front, accused Shiite-dominated security forces of "creating and marketing this crisis" to undermine U.S. efforts to organize Sunni tribes against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh acknowledged that the case "has a political aspect" but said "the law must take its course."

A U.S. statement said the incident that led to the detention of the son, Maki Adnan al-Dulaimi, and the others unfolded Thursday night after American and Iraqi soldiers went to investigate the slaying of a member of a neighborhood watch group about a block from the elder Dulaimi's compound in west Baghdad.

Dulaimi is considered a Sunni hard-liner and frequently accuses the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of favoring the Shiites.

But Sunni leaders on Friday accused the government of a politically motivated campaign against Dulaimi and his Iraqi Accordance Front, which controls 44 of the 275 seats in Parliament. Mohammed al-Daini, a lawmaker from a rival Sunni faction, said Iraqi military and government leaders planted the car bomb to discredit Dulaimi.

U.S. death: An American soldier was killed Friday when a bomb exploded during security operations in Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. command said.

Approval by Turkey: Turkey's prime minister said Friday the government had granted authorization to the military to launch a cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq at any time.

[Last modified December 1, 2007, 01:33:41]