Iraq follows Al Qaeda coup with mass arrests

These "brave freedom fighters" sing like little girls when caught.

Iraqi security forces killed 14 "terrorists" and arrested almost 200 suspects, the government said Monday, in a spectacular follow-up to their earlier capture of an alleged top-level Al Qaeda leader.

Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki's office announced that over the previous 24 hours a large force of Iraqi troops and police swept through suspected insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates valley south of Baghdad.

Taken with the arrest of Hamed Jumaa Al Saedi, an Iraqi alleged to be the Al Qaeda militant network's number two in the country, the arrests will be seen as a victory for Maliki's embattled government in its war with insurgents.

"Over the past 24 hours Baghdad and its outskirts witnessed a series of military operations carried out by security forces from the defense and interior ministries to achieve security and stability," Maliki's office said.