The U.S. military says American and Iraqi forces killed 13 insurgents in raids Wednesday in Iraq.
The military says eight insurgents were killed in an hours-long battle between troops and al-Qaida in Iraq fighters near the town of Amiriyah, in al-Anbar province.
Near Taji, north of Baghdad, the military says coalition forces killed five terrorists, detained three people and destroyed a bomb-making factory.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi called for talks with insurgents in Iraq. Hashemi said all parties except al-Qaida should be invited to sit down to discuss their fears and reservations.
Elsewhere, a mortar attack killed three people in Madain, south of Baghdad. Officials also say the bodies of two policemen were found in Diwaniyah.
And a suicide bomb attack in the northern city of Mosul killed three people and injured more than 20.
An official from the Kurdish political party, PUK, tells Voice of America Kurdish service that the attack occurred in front of the PUK headquarters in eastern Mosul as people gathered there to celebrate Nowruz, the new year.
A second suicide attack struck Iraqi National Guard troops responding to the Mosul blast. Two Iraqi troops were injured in that explosion.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
