Major developments in Iraq

• In a show of force backed by tanks and mortars, U.S. forces assaulted dozens of suspected guerrilla hideouts in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others.

• A U.S. patrol opened fire on a group of people in Baghdad's gun market, killing three, after the soldiers apparently mistook the gunfire of customers testing weapons for an attack, a witness and an Iraqi police officer said. Four people were wounded.

• 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 from criminals.

• Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents near the town of Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad. One soldier died and two were wounded when insurgents fired on their patrol. Another died when a convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.

• The CIA said the latest audio message purportedly from Saddam cannot be authenticated. The quality of the recording is too poor for the agency's technical analysts to reach any conclusions, a CIA spokesman said. The audio message was broadcast Sunday.

• An Italian official, Marco Calamai, resigned from the U.S.-led administration running Iraq, saying it is mismanaging reconstruction, out of touch with Iraqis and only fueling their anger.

• France's foreign minister, in a published interview, said the U.S. plan to cede power in Iraq by summer moves too slowly, and urged occupation forces to have a provisional government in place by the end of 2003.

• U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led coalition want the United Nations to play an important role in speeding the hand over of power to a provisional government in Iraq.

• U.S. Army helicopters in Iraq are flying faster and lower, hugging the ground in an effort to avoid hostile fire after a series of deadly downings and crashes, a U.S. general said.