BAGHDAD, June 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. forces killed five al-Qaida militant in northwestern Iraq and detained 13 suspected insurgents, the U.S. military said on Monday.

    Based on information extracted from detainees, U.S. raided a terrorist hideout in a remote area in northwestern Iraq earlier in the day and clashed with a group of militants, a military statement said.

    The troops called in aircraft support and destroyed the hideout, the statement said, adding that five terrorists were confirmed killed in the attack.

    The troops also discovered multiple suicide vests and heavy machine guns at the site, it added.

    In separate operations, the troops detained 13 suspected insurgents in Baghdad and the predominantly Sunni provinces of Salahudin and Mosul, including a man believed to be a local leader of Qaida organization in the city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

    The latest incidents came as several military operations have been carried out by U.S. and Iraqi security forces to uproot al-Qaida militants from their latest strongholds in Iraq's northern provinces.