US soldiers in anti-rebel swoop

US soldiers have arrested dozens of rebel suspects, including several associates of a former aide to Saddam Hussein who is believed to have a leading role in Iraq’s insurgency.

Early today, explosions were heard in Baghdad as the US military conducted an anti-rebel operation.

American commanders said they had planned operations over the Christmas period after receiving intelligence that there might be rebel attacks.

Asked about the repeated explosions south of the city centre, a US military spokeswoman said operations, including “aerial activity and artillery,” were under way.

A US task force in Baqouba, 30 miles northwest of Baghdad, arrested five Iraqis, including one suspected of recruiting guerrillas, Maj Josselyn Aberle of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division said yesterday.

Two other military sources said the other four were believed to be associates of former Vice President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Number 6 on the US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.

Thirteen fugitives from that list remain at large, with al-Douri at the top. US commanders say he could be organising anti-American resistance.

In an earlier raid in Baqouba, US troops detained a former Iraqi army colonel suspected of recruiting ex-Iraqi soldiers to fight the US military. Aberle said the ex-colonel was believed to be connected to a local businessman helping to finance the insurgency.

Near Fallujah, to the west of Baghdad, a US military statement said troops captured “26 enemy personnel including two former Iraqi generals and an Iraqi Special Forces colonel”.