Khalis, Iraq ? Hundreds of U.S. forces launched a series of raids Tuesday to hunt down bandits, gangsters and Saddam Hussein loyalists, capturing at least 24.

Meanwhile, the number of American troops killed in postwar Iraq surpassed the toll of those killed in major combat, reaching 140 with the deaths of a soldier in a roadside bombing and another in a traffic accident.

When President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, the U.S. death toll stood at 138. Since then, 140 more soldiers have died, counting both deaths announced Tuesday.

One of the soldiers killed Tuesday was riding in a support convoy hit by a bomb in the town of Hamariyah, 16 miles northwest of Baghdad, the military announced. Two other soldiers were wounded in that attack. The other U.S. fatality was a soldier who was struck by an Iraqi motorist while changing a flat in a convoy from Tikrit to a forward base, the military said.

The two dozen suspected Iraqi criminals were swept up near Baqouba, 42 miles north of Baghdad, in “Operation Ivy Needle,” a campaign launched by the 4th Infantry Division.

Hundreds of troops, backed by helicopters, tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles chased a convicted murderer and gangster named Lateef Hamed al-Kubaishat — known as Lateef by U.S. forces, said Col. David Hogg, commander of the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade.

Detained Iraqi men sit while U.S. troops stand guard during a raid on scores of houses in Khalis, a town about 43 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq. Hundreds of U.S. troops from the 4th Infantry Division were involved in the operation Tuesday, which was launched to catch members of a criminal gang operating in the town. U.S. forces accuse the gang of carrying out attacks against American soldiers.

Lateef escaped capture, but the military said it caught seven men it was seeking and seized arms.

“Their primary focus is probably criminal activity, but they have attacked coalition forces through direct and indirect means,” Hogg told The Associated Press. “As long as he (Lateef) is in place, we will not be able to establish the conditions for the Iraqi police to establish law and order in the area.”

The gang claimed responsibility for a bomb that exploded outside police headquarters in Baqouba on Aug. 10, killing one U.S. military policeman, U.S. forces said. Lateef is also accused of selling weapons, burning down the Baqouba courthouse to destroy criminal records and murdering a prostitute whom he accused of fraternizing with U.S. troops in the area.

Lateef was imprisoned and serving multiple life sentences for murder until Saddam granted amnesty to all prisoners in October as the United States ratcheted up its case for invading Iraq, according to U.S. intelligence officers.

Ivy Needle was designed to neutralize paramilitary forces, Saddam loyalists, Fedayeen Saddam militia and other subversive elements, said 4th Infantry spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle.

No U.S. soldiers were reported killed or injured in the operations.