U.S. and Afghan troops killed 17 militants in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province on Saturday, the U.S. military said. A statement Sunday said that helicopters carried the troops into "a known insurgent safe haven" to attack "enemy supplies and personnel."

Elsewhere in Kandahar province, Afghan and coalition troops killed 11 militants traveling in two vehicles on Saturday, provincial police Chief Matiullah Khan said.

In neighboring Helmand province, NATO-led troops killed a senior Taliban commander, Mullah Assad, on Wednesday, a NATO statement said Sunday.

The U.S. also said it killed two militants and a female civilian in Zabul province on Thursday, according to a statement Sunday. It did not provide details on how the civilian was killed.

Baghdad officials kill hundreds of stray dogsBAGHDAD — Baghdad authorities killed more than 200 stray dogs on Sunday, the opening day of a campaign to manage dog packs roaming the capital that was prompted by a spate of attacks on residents.

The campaign started Sunday in western Baghdad and will move to the eastern half of the city early next year.

Thirteen people died in August alone in the capital after being attacked by dogs, according to Baghdad’s provincial council, which is overseeing the campaign.

Iraqi police graduate from DNA classThirteen Iraqi police officers have become the first graduates of a DNA analysis and theory course held by the Ministry of Interior, U.S. military officials say.

The officers are college graduates with degrees in chemistry, biology or biochemistry and have experience as crime-scene investigators, according to a news release issued by Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. They graduated on Thursday.

The 13 graduates will continue their training while on the job, train others, and then be assigned to operate forensic labs throughout Iraq, officials say.

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