U.S. Arrests Dozens In Iraqi Sweep

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 17, 2003

U.S. Arrests Dozens In Iraqi Sweep

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Led by informants, U.S. soldiers swept into homes in Baghdad and several outlying towns Monday, a day after 10 Americans were injured in two ambush attacks that reinforced the belief that loyalists of former President Saddam Hussein were reorganizing. At least 59 Iraqis were detained, most of them taken away blindfolded and in handcuffs.

The soldiers dug up back yards in a search for heavy arms, but the military announced no major weapons discoveries. An Army soldier told reporters that the troops found "blasting caps, C4 [plastic explosives], artillery rounds, ammunition, a few weapons."

For weeks, U.S. forces have been the targets of hit-and-run assaults, most of them in the central "Sunni belt" north and west of Baghdad. About a dozen U.S. service members have been killed by hostile fire since May 1, when U.S. President Bush declared major combat operations over.

Ten Americans were wounded in the latest ambushes Sunday.

In the first, an "enemy individual" fired a rocket-propelled grenade at soldiers of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, hitting a civilian bus that was passing a military convoy near the town of al-Mushahidah, about 15 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

Eight Americans were wounded, two of them seriously. Soldiers returned fire, but it was unclear whether there were casualties on the civilian bus, the statement said.

In the other incident Sunday, assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a U.S. convoy near Dujayl, 35 miles north of Baghdad, slightly wounding two soldiers, said Army Capt. John Morgan, a military spokesman in Baghdad.

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The attacks took place on the second day of a forceful new operation called Desert Scorpion, which U.S. officials said was based on intelligence pinpointing opponents of the coalition forces in Iraq. It followed the expiration Sunday of an amnesty program for people turning in heavy weapons.

On the outskirts of Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, families were still asleep when a U.S. armored column rumbled into their village at 5:15 a.m., blaring an Arabic-language warning from loudspeakers: "These are coalition forces. Please stay in your homes and open your doors. Thank you for your cooperation."

Troops bound men and women in the two houses with plastic handcuffs and moved them into a nearby field while they searched the homes, residents told news agencies. They found one rifle.

Omar Mishrif Saleh, an older brother of the detainees, said the soldiers knew what they were looking for and sought out the house of a brother who had served in Saddam's army.

"Someone must have informed on us," he said, although he denied that his arrested brothers, ages 20 to 30, were engaged in anti-U.S. activities.

Desert Scorpion follows last week's Operation Peninsula Strike, the biggest U.S. operation since the end of major combat in Iraq. Troops in armored convoys, boats and helicopters raided suspected militia hideouts around Balad, detaining 400 Iraqis, 60 of whom remained in custody, the Army said.

Residents in and around Baghdad told reporters that the high-profile U.S. operations would backfire by creating resentment.

"The Americans claim they want to provide Iraq with freedom and humanity, but they are doing the opposite," Zaidoun Jassim, 15, told NBC's Dawna Friesen on Monday.

"I'm fed up and about to erupt," said a man who would not give his name. "We wanted to get rid of Saddam, [but] now we want Saddam back."

"The resistance is going to increase," Abdul Qader Fahd, 30, a teacher, told The Associated Press. "Dealing with civilians like this is terrorism."

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