American troops detained a top Sunni religious leader for a few hours after a raid seeking terror suspects Saturday, while a bomb killed two US soldiers patrolling south of Baghdad, raising to 16 the number of American deaths reported this week and underscoring the dangers of a massive security campaign in Baghdad.

In this photo released Saturday, June 24, 2006, US Marines assigned to the Hawaii-based Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, search a house for insurgents, weapons caches and explosives during a patrol Friday, June 16, 2006, in Barwana, Iraq. [AP]

The arrest of Sheik Jamal al-Din Abdul Karim al-Dabban drew sharp protests from Sunni Arabs and was an embarrassment for Iraq's Shiite prime minister on the eve of his presentation of a reconciliation plan aimed at drawing the disaffected Sunni minority into the political process.

The influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars said al-Dabban was arrested with three of his sons at about 5 a.m. in Tikrit, hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein. The cleric was released about seven hours later after protests, Tikrit Gov. Hamad Humoud al-Qaisi said.

The US military said it detained five people during a raid in the Tikrit area, 80 miles north of Baghdad, and later realized one was a senior religious leader, who was released.

"The security forces did not know it was a senior sheik's house when they conducted the assault," the statement said.

The military said the raid was based on intelligence that arose from the June 7 killing of al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It said one of the suspects "was directly associated with several senior-level al-Qaida members and reportedly plays an important role in the network between Baqouba and Tikrit."

Hundreds of people responded to calls broadcast over mosque loudspeakers to gather in front of the Tikrit governor's office to protest the detention, said Sheik Yahya Ibrahim al-Atwani, deputy head of the local chapter of the scholars' association.

The Iraqi Islamic party, the largest Sunni political group, condemned the arrest and warned it could provoke the Sunni-dominated insurgency. "The sheik represents an Islamic and national symbol and these violations could cause the security situation to deteriorate," it said.

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