Sixty opposition members held as US forces target Iraqi insurgents
More than 60 suspected “opposition members” were detained in the raids along with weapons and military documents believed to relate to the former regime.
Also yesterday, the US civilian administrator of Iraq said American forces must kill or capture Saddam so he can no longer be a rallying point for anti-coalition attacks that have killed more than 60 American troops since the war ended.
The operation, dubbed “Desert Sidewinder,” was taking place in a huge swath of central Iraq stretching from the Iranian border to the areas north of Baghdad, and was expected to last several days, military officials said.
Americans arrested a man in Khalis, 45 miles north of Baghdad. He is suspected of recruiting young men to launch attacks on Americans, according to military officials.
In Dojima, an upscale town where Sunni Muslim residents recently cleaned the still-standing portrait of Saddam, police raided homes of alleged Saddam loyalists they suspected of hiding caches of arms, including rocket-propelled grenades, the weapon of choice in recent ambushes.
The operationkicked off at about 2am yesterday, with officers simultaneously raiding as many sites as possible.
“We go in with such overwhelming combat power that they won’t even think about shooting us,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Young earlier.
US officials in Washington have said repeatedly that no centralised Iraqi resistance to American rule remains.
However, on the ground, US military personnel face “an organised effort,” said Young.
“Somewhere in Diala province, something happens every night,” said Captain John Wrann, referring to the province northeast of Baghdad where much of the operation was taking place.
Insurgents have stepped up their attacks against US troops in recent days, carrying out ambushes against military convoys, shooting soldiers in Baghdad, and lobbing grenades at patrols.
The civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said hold-out Ba’ath Party members and perhaps terrorists from neighbouring countries drew strength from Saddam’s apparent survival.
“I think it is important that we either catch him or kill him,” Bremer told the BBC.
“There is no doubt that the fact that we have not been able to show his fate allows the remnants of the Ba’ath regime to go around the bazaars and villages and say Saddam will come back so do not co-operate with the coalition.”
Also yesterday, two American troops were wounded and an Iraqi civilian was killed in an attack on a US military convoy on a road leading to Baghdad International Airport.
The attack, which involved an improvised explosive device, occurred as the convoy made its way on a highway in southwest Baghdad that heads out to the airport, said Corporal Todd Pruden, a military spokesman.
He said it was not clear if the explosive device was thrown at the convoy, or placed in the road. Two vehicles were damaged.
The injured were evacuated to a military hospital and no arrests were made.
In other violence, insurgents using rocket propelled grenades ambushed a US patrol west of Baghdad on Sunday.
One grenade struck a Bradley fighting vehicle patrolling near Khaldiyah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, but didn’t cause any significant damage or injuries.
Meanwhile, the remains of two missing soldiers were found 20 miles northwest of the capital on Saturday morning, while their Humvee was recovered Friday in another location nearby, a senior Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.
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