ANOTHER RAID
NYT/AP reports,
In a show of force backed by tanks and mortars, U.S. forces assaulted dozens of suspected guerrilla positions in Saddam Hussein’s hometown before dawn Monday, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others, officials said.
U.S. forces fired a satellite-guided missile carrying a 500-pound warhead at a suspected insurgent sanctuary 10 miles south of Tikrit — the second use in as many days of the powerful weapon amid a U.S. drive to intimidate the resistance.
In Baghdad, troops mounted their biggest-ever hunt for weapons and explosives in a middle-class Baghdad area, angering residents who said their small arms were needed to protect themselves in the crime-plagued capital.
The military also announced that soldiers in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad arrested an organizer of the Fedayeen guerrillas responsible for bomb attacks and ambushes on U.S. forces. The suspect, Kazim Mohammed Faris, was a “high value target,” a military statement said.
Faced with a deteriorating security situation, the military in past days has reacted with massive show of force in central and northern Iraq. At the same time, the U.S.-led coalition has bowed to demands from Iraqi politicians and agreed to speed the transfer of power.
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In Tikrit, U.S. forces carried out more than 38 attacks from Sunday night to early Monday, destroying 15 suspected safehouses, three training camps and 14 mortar firing points, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald, a spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division.
Six suspected Saddam loyalists were killed and 21 arrested, he said.
