Nineteen Iraqi fighters have been killed in four separate clashes with US-led occupation forces in Baghdad, US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt has said.
American trucker Thomas Hamill, held hostage in Iraq for three weeks, is back with US forces after apparently escaping from his captors.
Six US military police officers in Iraq have been charged with maltreatment, assault and indecent acts against prisoners at the Abu Gharib prison west of Baghdad, a top US occupation army spokesman has said.
The US-led occupation force has denied charges that American troops were involved in a shooting incident in the northern town of Tikrit that killed four Iraqi civilians in a car.
US officials on Wednesday were badgered by the media about their claim that 54 fighters were killed in clashes in the Iraqi town of Samarra.