Security developments in Iraq, Dec 18

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Following are security and other developments in Iraq as of 1320 GMT on Monday:

*BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed a woman and wounded two others when they attacked a group of female staff at the Ministry of Education in Amil district in southwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb at the entrance of a wholesale vegetable market killed five people and wounded 19 in the southern Saidiya district of Baghdad, police said. A car bomb at a wholesale vegetable market in southern Doura district wounded seven people, police said.

JURF AL-SAKHAR - The U.S. military said it detained 18 suspected insurgents on Sunday and seized a weapons cache after searching a house near Jurf al-Sakhar, a town 85 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad.

NEAR KIRKUK - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two policemen on the main road between Tuz Khurmatu and Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen who kidnapped about 30 people at a Red Crescent office in Baghdad on Sunday have freed 17 hostages, Mazen Abdullah, secretary general of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said on Monday. The group suspended operations in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army arrested 40 insurgents during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

KIRKUK - Gunmen killed a policeman on his way to work in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

DOUR - Gunmen kidnapped three truck drivers and set their trucks on fire in the town of Dour, near Tikrit, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed Khaireddine al-Dabagh, a member of the city council in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

SAMARRA - Gunmen kidnapped police Captain Nihad Khalid, head of emergency police in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, after storming his house, police said. A curfew was imposed afterwards in the city.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded seven people when it exploded in a wholesale vegetable market in the southern Doura district of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded three policemen near the Technology University in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A bomb planted in a car carrying Electricity Ministry officials killed the driver and wounded two in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

HAWIJA - A roadside bomb killed a person and wounded another in the town of Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) south west of Kirkuk, police said.

ANBAR - A U.S. soldier was killed in combat on Saturday in Anbar Province, the U.S. military said. Earlier the military had described the dead serviceman as a Marine.

RAMADI - One insurgent and a civilian were killed in clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents on Saturday in the restive city of Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

TIKRIT - Iraqi and U.S. security forces arrested a suspected weapons smuggler on Sunday in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

FALLUJA - Iraqi and U.S. security forces arrested a suspected forger accused of supplying insurgents with fake identity documents on Sunday in Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Monday.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained five insurgents on Saturday in two separate incidents in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Monday.