Iraqi general captured as '4,000 suicide bombers arrive'

A general from Saddam Hussein’s army has been captured in southern Iraq and is being pressed to provide strategic information, British officers said today.

An Iraqi official said 4,000 Arab volunteers have arrived, eager to carry out more suicide attacks against United States and British forces.

Four American infantrymen were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq on Saturday, and on Sunday a man in civilian clothes rammed a white pick-up truck into a group of US soldiers standing by a store at their base in Kuwait. Fifteen people were injured, said Col Guy Shields, chief US military spokesman in Kuwait City.

The driver was shot and was in critical condition at a military facility, Shields said. He said the driver was neither American nor Kuwaiti, but did not know his nationality.

In central Iraq, thousands of Marines pushed north Sunday in “seek and destroy” missions, trying to clear the route toward Baghdad that they have nicknamed “Ambush Alley”.

The Marines were ordered to question each Iraqi civilian they passed, then hand out ration packets as a gesture of goodwill. One unit took its chaplain along to oversee the aid distribution.

Fierce fighting was under way in Najaf, where Apache attack helicopters from the US Army 101st Airborne Division faced mortar fire, forcing pilots to pull back and call in artillery fire to soften enemy positions.

Command Sgt Maj Marvin Hill of the 101st Airborne said troops had secured Najaf’s airport, surrounded the Shiite Muslim holy city and were poised to go into the downtown to root out paramilitary forces.

US forces were facing pockets of resistance in a string of towns on the main roads to Baghdad – Sanawah, Karbala and Diwaniyah – with American aircraft taking fire from machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft artillery.

Near Nasiriyah, to the southwest, US troops were rushing to build a bridge over the Euphrates River in a crucial effort to unclog supply lines to ground forces farther north on the way to Baghdad. Heavy Marine helicopters were flying in parts for the bridge.

Lack of supplies moving north has apparently slowed the progress of troops headed to the Iraqi capital. The new bridge will enable food, water and ammunition to catch up with troops in forward positions.

Last week’s fierce sandstorm, which grounded transport helicopters for two days, put Marines behind in resupplying ground forces.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Army spokesman Gen Hazem al-Rawi said that many suicide attacks like the one Saturday in Najaf will be carried out by Iraqis and some 4,000 Arabs, he claimed, had come as volunteers to fight the Americans and British.

“Martyrdom operations will continue, not only by Iraqis but by thousands of Arabs who came to Baghdad,” he told reporters. “They left their countries and families to come here and seek heaven. They promised no to return to their countries but to be buried in Iraq.”

Al-Rawi maintained the attack in Najaf killed 11 US soldiers, not the four reported by American officials. He gave no indication of how he learned of the higher death toll.

General Tommy Franks, commander of the allied coalition, said he was unsure whether the suicide attack on Saturday and Sunday’s attack on American forces in Kuwait were linked. He called the suicide attack “pure terrorism” and said his troops would henceforth exercise more caution in dealing with Iraqis.

Franks, at a briefing Sunday, also denied that he had asked the Pentagon for more troops before invading Iraq. He sidestepped a question about whether the war might last into the summer.

Franks was responding to published reports that the requests of US generals for more ground troops were repeatedly denied by Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Reports also quoted US military officials as saying the lack of troops and weapons meant the war might last into the summer.

“One never knows how long a war will take,” Franks said.

Group Capt Al Lockwood, a British spokesman, said an Iraqi general was captured in the besieged city of Basra – the highest-ranking Iraqi prisoner of war thus far.

“We’ll be asking him quite politely if he’s willing to assist us to continue our operations against the paramilitary forces in Basra,” Lockwood said.

Lockwood also said Royal Marine Commandos killed a Republican Guard colonel who apparently was sent to Basra to strengthen the resolve of the defence forces, who are encircled by British troops.

In readying for the battle for Baghdad, US and British warplanes have focused three-quarters of their strikes in recent days on Republican Guard positions defending the capital.

The US Central Command said coalition aircraft struck overnight at the Abu Garayb Presidential Palace, the Karada military intelligence complex and the barracks of a major paramilitary training centre, all in Baghdad. Several telephone exchanges in the city also were hit, as well as a train loaded with Republican Guard tanks.

Buildings in downtown Baghdad shook repeatedly from the blasts. At one point, an orange fireball illuminated the sky, followed by columns of white smoke.

Although coalition commanders have been unflaggingly upbeat about the war’s progress, ordinary soldiers were jolted by news of Saturday’s car bombing by a man posing as a taxi driver.

“It’s a shame they are doing that, because now we’re going to have to treat every civilian vehicle like it is hostile,” said Staff Sgt. Bryce Ivings, a member of 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.

“If we accidentally kill a civilian because they took a wrong turn and came at us, it will be on their (the Iraqi leadership’s) head.”

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said at a briefing today that several Iraqi civilians had been shot dead in their cars by coalition soldiers in a mood for vengeance after the suicide attack.

Iraq’s state television reported that the Najaf bomber – identified as Ali Jaafar al-Noamani, a non-commissioned officer – was posthumously promoted to colonel and awarded two medals.

Al-Sahhaf, the information minister, said Iraqi tribesman had shot down an Apache helicopter near Basra, killing the pilot. US Central Command said it had no information of such an incident.

US and British warplanes also hit fuel depots today near Karbala, south of Baghdad, to cut fuel supplies to Iraqi tanks.

Wing Commander Andy Suddards, who led a British Harrier raid on one depots, said his mission was a success.

“The visibility was good and I saw the bang,” he said.