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US troops arrest suspected Saddam loyalists
Tikrit, Sept 15: US troops kept up the pressure on the resistance fighters in Saddam Hussein`s hometown of Tikrit early today with raids on houses and the arrest of five men suspected of helping to finance attacks against the American-led occupation force.
Tikrit, Sept 15: US troops kept up the pressure on the resistance fighters in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit early today with raids on houses and the arrest of
five men suspected of helping to finance attacks against the American-led occupation force.
The pre-dawn raids targeted three homes next to a
highway which has seen 20 rocket-propelled grenade attacks on
the U.S. military in the past two weeks. In the most recent
attack Saturday, a guerrilla in a taxi fired a
rocket-propelled grenade at an American convoy in downtown
Tikrit, killing an Iraqi bystander and injuring two people.
"These individuals are involved in financing fidayeen activity and organizing cells of resistance against U.S. forces," said Maj. Bryan Luke of the Army's 4th Infantry Division. No shots were fired in the early morning raid.
The 3 am raid also captured assault rifles, pieces of an RPG and ammunition.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, on his first visit to Iraq, traveled to Halabja Monday. The city, on the border with Iran 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Baghdad, was bombed and shelled with cyanide gas in march 1988 and some 5,000 Kurdish men, women and children were killed. Saddam carried out the attack to put down a Kurdish rebellion.
On Sunday, insurgents killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three outside the troubled city of Fallujah, a day after angry protesters fired weapons and called for violence against the American occupation to protest one of the most serious friendly fire incidents of the Iraq war.
Bureau Report
"These individuals are involved in financing fidayeen activity and organizing cells of resistance against U.S. forces," said Maj. Bryan Luke of the Army's 4th Infantry Division. No shots were fired in the early morning raid.
The 3 am raid also captured assault rifles, pieces of an RPG and ammunition.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, on his first visit to Iraq, traveled to Halabja Monday. The city, on the border with Iran 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Baghdad, was bombed and shelled with cyanide gas in march 1988 and some 5,000 Kurdish men, women and children were killed. Saddam carried out the attack to put down a Kurdish rebellion.
On Sunday, insurgents killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three outside the troubled city of Fallujah, a day after angry protesters fired weapons and called for violence against the American occupation to protest one of the most serious friendly fire incidents of the Iraq war.
Bureau Report