'Operation Lightning' Launched In Baghdad

A Defense Ministry official told Reuters news agency the operation is a "crackdown on terrorism infrastructure."

Meanwhile, reports say that a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Reportedly, the blast had killed two security guards.

In another developments, a British soldier was also killed in a bomb blast in southern Iraq, while the U.S. military announced that a U.S. Marine was killed in a bomb attack northwest of Baghdad.

Earlier today, Iraqi security officials announced that at least five Iraqis were killed and several wounded in two bomb attacks today.

(agencies)