Iraqi army general kidnapped in Baghdad

Police said Brigadier General Jalal Mohammed Saleh was pulled from his car. He was the commander of a special armored division, one of the first armored units in the re-formed Iraqi army.

Insurgents have kidnapped several leading Iraqi officials and military officers. Some have been killed, with video footage of their deaths posted on the Internet.

In another incident, a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol close to Baghdad's international airport on Tuesday, killing one civilian, police said.

The thunderous explosion shook buildings in the airport and was heard across the southwestern part of the capital.

Insurgents fighting to overthrow Iraq's US-backed government are increasingly targeting Iraqi convoys and checkpoints with suicide car bombs.

US officers say this shows that insurgents are finding it harder to attack better protected targets.

Meanwhile US and Iraqi troops battled dozens of insurgents in a remote part of Iraq east of Baghdad on Monday and two American soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were killed in the fighting, the US military said on Tuesday.

"Coalition forces and Iraqi army soldiers encountered and attacked terrorist forces in a remotely populated region east of Baghdad at about 4 p.m. (0800 EDT) on April 4," a US military statement said.

"Two battalions from the Iraqi army had been conducting an independent cordon and search operation in eastern Diyala province. The mission to search for weapons cache sites in the area uncovered dozens of terrorists and a firefight ensued."

The statement said US troops moved in to back the Iraqi forces, and called in air support. The area was still being searched on Tuesday, it added.

Recent weeks have seen a number of large-scale engagements between US soldiers and guerrillas -- an unusual development as insurgents generally favor hit-and-run attacks.

On Saturday, more than 40 US soldiers and 12 prisoners were wounded when insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib jail west of Baghdad with suicide bombs, mortars and small arms fire. The battle raged for around an hour.