US assault intensifies near border with Syria
American forces have met little resistance since the first two days of Operation Matador, which began on Saturday, aimed at clearing a region believed to be a haven for foreign fighters slipping into Iraq from Syria.
American intelligence indicates the insurgents are either in hiding or have fled, US Capt Jeffrey Pool said.
Villagers reached by telephone said gunmen still roamed some areas and they continued to be hit by US shelling.
The US offensive - one of the largest since militants were forces from Fallujah six months ago - came amid a surge of militant attacks that have killed more than 420 people in just over two weeks since Iraq’s first democratically elected government was announced.
Snipers opened fire on the motorcade of Interior Ministry undersecretary Maj Gen Hikmat Moussa Hussein in western Baghdad yesterday, killing one of his guards and wounding three, police said. Maj Gen Hussein escaped unharmed.
Elsewhere in western Baghdad, insurgents fired on Iraqi soldiers who were searching the area, prompting a 30-minute gun battle, said police. There was no immediate word on casualties.
North of the capital, a car bomb exploded as an Iraqi army patrol was moving through Baqouba, killing three people and wounding six, police said. The dead included two soldiers and a civilian.
In Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, mortar rounds slammed into an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing three soldiers and wounding three others.
Two more explosions rocked the capital yesterday. A roadside bomb hit an American convoy on a highway to the airport. No casualties were reported, but TV news video showed a US Humvee, its hood open, consumed by flames. The cause of the second blast was not immediately known.
Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated on Thursday that the insurgency could last for many more years.
“This requires patience,” he said at a news conference. “This is a thinking and adapting adversary ... I wouldn’t look for results tomorrow. One thing we know about insurgencies, that they last from three, four years to nine years.”
The US military said information gained from a “senior terrorist” captured during the operation near the Syrian border led Marines to the safe house on Thursday in Karabilah, about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad.
As Marines approached, at least four gunmen fired from the building, the military statement said.
US F-18 Super Hornet jets destroyed the building with bombs and rockets, the statement said.
The offensive was launched after US intelligence showed large numbers of insurgents had moved into the northern Jazirah Desert following losses in Fallujah and Ramadi, farther east.
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