(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-30 20:49

BAGHDAD - Iraqi army forces killed 40 militants during operations in three northern Iraqi provinces in the last 24 hours, a Defense Ministry statement said on Sunday.

Turkey's Interior Minister Besir Atalay (R) and his Iraqi counterpart Jawad al-Bolani shake hands after signing an anti-terrorism agreement in Ankara 28 September 2007 targeting Kurdish rebels. [Agencies]

It said the operations took place in the volatile provinces of Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk. Another eight people were arrested in those provinces, the statement said.

A ministry official was not immediately able to give details of the operations, or explain the high death toll.

The statement said the army had also managed to defuse three bombs in those provinces. Across Iraq, the army killed a total of 44 militants in the last 24 hours, and arrested 52 suspects, the statement said.