Nouri al-Maliki delivers speech on 5th anniversary of death of slain Shiite leader Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim in Baghdad, 05 Jul 2008

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says security forces in Iraq have saved Baghdad from what he called a terrorist "siege."

Mr. Maliki Saturday said his government will never stop battling outlaws, criminals and militants.  But he said the country's security forces have managed to defeat terrorism in the nation's capital, once considered the epicenter of violence in Iraq.

Mr. Maliki was speaking at a ceremony remembering the 2003 killing of prominent Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.  Hakim and at least 80 other people were killed in a car bombing attack as they left a mosque in the southern city of Najaf in August of 2003.

Hakim was the leader of the main Iraqi Shi'ite group opposed to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In violence Saturday, the U.S. military said an explosion killed an Iraqi civilian and wounded at least five other people, including two Iraqi police officers in the northern city of Mosul. 

The military says two suspected al-Qaida in Iraq members then shot and killed another Iraqi police officer.  Police detained the two suspects.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.