180 Iraqis held by US in clampdown on resistance

US FORCES in Iraq detained 180 people in raids to stamp out resistance to their occupation as a reporter attached to an army unit became the latest casualty of the violence, the military said yesterday.

Assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade on Sunday night at an army patrol in the restive town of Falluja, around 50 km west of Baghdad, wounding the journalist who is now in stable condition in hospital, a statement said. Three people were killed soon afterwards when their pick-up truck drove into a military vehicle helping to evacuate the reporter from the area, the US Central Command said. It did not identify the journalist or the dead people.

US troops have come under almost daily attack in recent weeks from rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and automatic rifle fire as they try to bring order to Iraq after toppling Saddam Hussein and his government on April 9. At least 22 US and six British soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1.