U.S. troops launch major search raids for pro-Saddam militants

SAMARRA, Iraq — U.S. troops blasted down the gates of homes, raising cries of women and children inside, and smashed in doors of workshops and junkyards in a massive raid Wednesday to hunt for pro-Saddam Hussein militants and stamp out the increasingly bold anti-U.S. resistance.

The raid, launched before dawn and lasting until mid-morning, targeted the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, where U.S. officials say some 1,500 fighters operate — making it one of the persistent hotspots in the so-called "Sunni Triangle."

The coalition scored a major victory Saturday by nabbing Saddam, who Iraqi officials revealed Wednesday was currently being held in the Baghdad area. But violence has continued in the capital and in predominantly Sunni areas west and north of Baghdad, once Saddam's power base. In the northern city of Mosul, assailants shot and killed a policeman Wednesday, police said. And Iraqi security forces there opened fire on pro-Saddam protesters, injuring nine, witnesses said.

In Baghdad, a fuel truck exploded after colliding with a bus at an intersection, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding 20 — raising initial claims by Afghan officials that it was a suicide bombing by Saddam loyalists. But U.S. officials later said the blast was an accident, not an attack.

In the Samarra raid by some 2,500 troops, dubbed Operation Ivy Blizzard, the 4th Infantry Division and Iraqi forces detained at least a dozen suspected guerrillas — though others got away, apparently tipped off about the raid.

"Locksmiths will make a lot of money these days," said a U.S. soldier, laughing as he sat atop a Bradley fighting vehicle in the city's industrial zone, where troops used sledgehammers, crowbars, explosives and even the Bradleys themselves to smash down doors of warehouses, workshops and junkyards.

The sweep came after U.S. troops on Tuesday snared a suspected rebel leader and 78 other people, all in one building near Samarra where they apparently were planning attacks. On Monday, guerrillas in the city ambushed an American patrol, sparking a battle in which soldiers killed 11 attackers.

"Samarra has been a little bit of a thorn in our side," said Col. Nate Sassaman. "It hasn't come along as quickly as other cities in the rebuilding of Iraq. This operation is designed to bring them up to speed."

"No one knows the town better than we do, we're gonna clean this place. They've made a mistake to attack U.S. forces. We will dominate Samarra," he said.