BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces in Iraq have detained more than 70 suspected terrorists, including a key associate of the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, a military spokesman said Thursday.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell did not identify the associate of militant leader Abu Ayyoub al-Masri but said he is "known to have directly participated in terrorist acts, including kidnappings and executions."
The suspect also played a "key operational role" in terrorist activities before and during the U.S. military siege of the central Iraqi city of Falluja in November 2004, Caldwell said.
Al-Masri, an explosives expert, became head of al Qaeda in Iraq after U.S. forces killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in June.
The Iraqi capital saw no letup in violence Thursday as nine people were killed and 26 others wounded in two explosions in central Baghdad, police said.
A roadside bomb first went off near a passport office and an orphanage in the Karrada neighborhood. A parked car near the site then detonated when police responded to the first bombing.
Earlier, another car bomb killed one person and wounded 16 others in the capital's northwestern Hurriya neighborhood.
In addition, gunmen shot and killed Col. Muthana Ali Hussein of the Iraqi traffic police Thursday as he was leaving his home in southern Baghdad's Doura area.
Also Thursday, police found 20 bodies with gunshot wounds scattered across the Iraqi capital, most with signs of torture.
The bodies are thought to be victims of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence.
The manner of their deaths is consistent with sectarian slayings, police said. Such bodies are dumped after being shot execution-style. They frequently show signs of torture.
Two American soldiers also died Thursday near Baghdad in separate attacks, the U.S. military said.
One soldier died when a U.S. military vehicle struck a roadside bomb south of the capital.
A second one died from wounds when small-arms fire hit his unit southeast of Baghdad, the military said.
The number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war stands at 2,668 since the 2003 invasion. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.