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Scorpion for Saddam`s men: Indian Express
Falluja, June 16: US forces sealed off roads, searched houses and scoured the skies with helicopters in the restive towns around Baghdad on Sunday in a new mission to hunt down diehard guerrillas still loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Falluja, June 16: US forces sealed off roads, searched houses and scoured the skies with helicopters in the restive towns around Baghdad on Sunday in a new mission to hunt down diehard guerrillas still loyal to Saddam Hussein.
US Army spokesman Sergeant Brian Thomas told Reuters that Operation Desert Scorpion, a mission to root out members of Saddam’s Baath party and Fedayeen militia blamed for a string of deadly attacks on US troops, began on Saturday night.
‘‘We are trying to detain people who want to destabilise Iraq,’’ he said, adding that the mission would focus on Baghdad and the tense areas to the north and west of the city. In the Sunni Muslim town of Falluja, 70 km west of Baghdad, soldiers searched houses during the night, but by morning were distributing food and supplies. Hostility to the US is widespread in Falluja after a series of bloody clashes.
Thomas said Desert Scorpion involved winning hearts and minds as well as hunting guerrillas. Civil affairs projects such as distributing fuel and food are planned to try to win over the hostile local population.
Some 40 US soldiers have been killed in attacks and ambushes in Iraq since Saddam’s overthrow two months ago.
The attacks have been concentrated in Baghdad and two nearby areas — to the west around Ramadi and Falluja, and to the north around Balad, Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam’s home town.
The US says remnants of Saddam’s regime are behind the attacks. Many locals say they have no love for Saddam but that anger is mounting towards the occupying US soldiers. The US Army said it had no information on a report by Arabic television channel Al Jazeera that a US military headquarters in Ramadi had been attacked with mortars.
US forces last week mounted their biggest operation in Iraq since the end of major combat. Called Operation Peninsula Strike, it involved a series of raids on suspected guerrilla hideouts in the fertile plains of the Tigris river near Balad.
In a statement, the US Military said that during the operation, some 400 Iraqis were detained and about 60 were still in custody. Four US soldiers were wounded. Two former Iraqi generals turned themselves in during the raids.
US forces also said they had captured the commander of the former Iraqi Air force, Hamid Raja Shalah al-Tikriti, but did not reveal where he was caught. He was number 17 on a US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. (Reuters)
US Army spokesman Sergeant Brian Thomas told Reuters that Operation Desert Scorpion, a mission to root out members of Saddam’s Baath party and Fedayeen militia blamed for a string of deadly attacks on US troops, began on Saturday night.
‘‘We are trying to detain people who want to destabilise Iraq,’’ he said, adding that the mission would focus on Baghdad and the tense areas to the north and west of the city. In the Sunni Muslim town of Falluja, 70 km west of Baghdad, soldiers searched houses during the night, but by morning were distributing food and supplies. Hostility to the US is widespread in Falluja after a series of bloody clashes.
Thomas said Desert Scorpion involved winning hearts and minds as well as hunting guerrillas. Civil affairs projects such as distributing fuel and food are planned to try to win over the hostile local population.
Some 40 US soldiers have been killed in attacks and ambushes in Iraq since Saddam’s overthrow two months ago.
The attacks have been concentrated in Baghdad and two nearby areas — to the west around Ramadi and Falluja, and to the north around Balad, Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam’s home town.
The US says remnants of Saddam’s regime are behind the attacks. Many locals say they have no love for Saddam but that anger is mounting towards the occupying US soldiers. The US Army said it had no information on a report by Arabic television channel Al Jazeera that a US military headquarters in Ramadi had been attacked with mortars.
US forces last week mounted their biggest operation in Iraq since the end of major combat. Called Operation Peninsula Strike, it involved a series of raids on suspected guerrilla hideouts in the fertile plains of the Tigris river near Balad.
In a statement, the US Military said that during the operation, some 400 Iraqis were detained and about 60 were still in custody. Four US soldiers were wounded. Two former Iraqi generals turned themselves in during the raids.
US forces also said they had captured the commander of the former Iraqi Air force, Hamid Raja Shalah al-Tikriti, but did not reveal where he was caught. He was number 17 on a US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. (Reuters)