U.S. says al-Qaida leader in Mosul killed

BAGHDAD, June 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army Friday identified a militant killed during a raid in Mosul as a key al-Qaida figure.

The man -- identified as Abu Khalaf -- allegedly masterminded many attacks in Iraq and was the group's leader in Mosul, reported KUNA, the Kuwaiti news agency. Khalaf was killed during a U.S. military raid Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he ordered an investigation into a shooting by an Iraqi minister's bodyguards at an educational center in which several students were injured. The minister's bodyguards fired several rounds into the air after a man pointed a gun at the minister, a statement from Maliki's office said.

Multi-National Force officials reported 20 people, including three U.S. Marines, died in an attack in Iraq's Anbar province. Another 25 people were wounded in the Thursday attack in the Karma, northeast of Fallujah.

The militants targeted a meeting of the Awakening Council, which collaborates with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, KUNA said.

Coalition forces also report killing a terror suspect and detaining eight others in operations in central and northwest Iraq. Troops were targeting a man thought to have ties with a bomb-making cell near Mosul, the military said.