Five American troops killed in Baghdad as aide of Zarqawi captured

Five American troops were killed and five injured on Friday when a blast hit their convoy on the edge Baghdad's Sadr City, the US military said.

Witnesses earlier said on the scene that the convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade before a roadside bomb was detonated.

A 21-year-old Iraqi was seriously injurde by the explosion, his father said. Witnesses said a cameraman was also wounded when American soldiers opened fire to keep bystanders away.

@Al Bawaba [1]

Meanwhile, the US Army said an aide to senior al Qaeda activist Abu Musab al Zarqawi has been captured.

Zarqawi is accused of masterminding a string of suicide bombings in Iraq.

Al Zarqawi's top lieutenant, Umar Baziyani, was seized by Iraqi police on May 30. "Baziyani, an associate of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is known to have ties to several extremist terrorist groups in Iraq," a US military statement said.

"His believed to be responsible for the death and injury of scores of innocent Iraqi citizens."