BAGHDAD (AFP) – The US military said on Friday its forces had captured an alleged Iranian-linked militant who transported deadly bombs into Iraq from Iran.

In other raids across Iraq, the military said it killed three alleged militants and arrested nearly four dozen more.

“The captured terrorist is suspected of facilitating the transport of weapons and personnel from Iran into Iraq,” a statement said, without revealing the detainee’s nationality.

The military said the detainee, who was captured in the town of Kharnabat near the restive city of Baquba northeast of Baghdad, has connections with “senior leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force.”

He is also believed to have helped transport deadly explosively-formed projectiles (EFPs), a fist-sized bomb that cuts through even heavily armoured military vehicles.

The US military claims such EFPs have killed hundreds of its soldiers in Iraq and are supplied to extremist groups in the country by the Qods Force, a charge Tehran denies.

“During the raid, coalition forces confiscated a large sum of US currency, weapons and photographs of juveniles with weapons,” the statement said.

Separately, troops killed two armed men and detained 16 in a raid to capture an alleged Al-Qaeda militant south of Baghdad, the military said.

In the capital, an armed man was killed during an operation to flush militants out of targeted buildings. Ten other suspected militants were detained, all allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Four more suspected militants, two of them handling media activities in Baghdad and Baquba, were also detained in the Iraqi capital, the military said.

A suspected bomb making cell member was also detained in another raid in Baghdad.

In the western restive city of Ramadi, troops captured a top Al-Qaeda militant and four associates on Friday, the military said.

The militant had recently returned from Syria where he allegedly facilitated the supply of weapons to militants in Iraq, it added.

Another eight militants were detained in the northern city of Mosul, where the military also said Iraqi troops captured a former regime army officer turned Al-Qaeda militant on Thursday.