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.

US officers blame Saddam loyalists. Many Iraqis say some attackers are not connected to Saddam, but feel strongly their country should not be occupied and that the occupiers have failed to provide basic services and security. The US military, which has around 156,000 soldiers in Iraq, has launched several operations to stamp out the attacks. The latest, Operation Desert Sidewinder, began on Sunday with infantry soldiers backed by aircraft and armoured vehicles.

Troops from the US Army’s hi-tech Fourth Infantry Division detained 32 people and seized weapons including 10 AK- 47 rifles and a mortar in the mission targeting areas north and east of Baghdad, once a bedrock of support for Saddam.

The arms haul appeared meagre in a country where most homes have at least one weapon. The area was quiet on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, troops from the First Armoured Division detained 148 people in Baghdad as part of Operation Desert Scorpion, which is aimed at stopping guerrilla attacks.

Central Command also said troops had conducted 374 joint patrols with Iraqi police, resulting in 319 arrests for criminal offences. News of the arrests came as Amnesty International expressed concern at the treatment of detainees in Iraq and called for an end to a ban on them receiving visitors and consulting lawyers.

“The conditions of detention Iraqis are held under at the Camp Cropper Centre at Baghdad International Airport...and at (Baghdad’s main) Abu Ghraib Prison may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the rights group said.

It also called for investigations into consistent testimony from former detainees that troops had used excessive force during arrest or detention. US officers say they have issued strict orders that all Iraqis must be treated humanely.

US officials believe violence against the occupying forces will drop if they can capture Saddam or prove he is dead.

Paul Bremer, head of Iraq’s US-led administration, said he believed Saddam was alive. “I’m assuming he’s still alive, and we will get our hands on him, dead or alive,” Bremer told CNN on Sunday.