BAQUBA, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi forces have arrested three women who were plotting suicide bombing missions against soldiers and police involved in a vast offensive against Al-Qaeda, officials said on Wednesday.

In all, Iraqi forces have netted 483 suspects since the start of the operation in the troubled central province of Diyala against Al-Qaeda and Shiite rebels which was launched in late July, an official said.

'Acting on information received, our forces uncovered three women in a house in Al-Saada who were preparing to carry out suicide attacks against our forces in the region,' interior ministry spokesman General Abdel Karim Khalaf told AFP.

Al-Saada is just north of Baquba, the capital of the Diyala, a multi-ethnic province regarded now as the most dangerous regions of Iraq.

The number of attacks carried out by women bombers has dramatically increased in 2008, many of them carried out in Baquba.

A woman believed to have been responsible for recruiting female suicide bombers was among four Al-Qaeda-linked suspects arrested in Diyala at the weekend, according to the Iraqi military.

In one of the deadliest recent attacks believed to be perpetrated by women, three suicide bombers believed to be women blew themselves up among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad last month, killing at least 25 and wounding around 75.

Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed al-Askari said that among 483 suspects arrested, 26 were senior operatives in the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq who had organised attacks in Baquba and other areas.

He also said Iraqi forces had found the bodies of 16 people who had been shot dead and their hands tied, during house searches in Al-Qaeda strongholds in and around Baquba.