U.S. soldiers raid homes, shops in Iraq

SAMARRA, Iraq — Using sledgehammers, crowbars, explosives and armored vehicles, U.S. forces smashed down the gates of homes and the doors of workshops and junkyards Wednesday to attack the Iraqi resistance that has persisted despite the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Loud blasts mixed with the sound of women and children screaming inside the houses. An explosion at the gate of one compound shattered windows, cutting a 1-year-old baby with glass. U.S. medics treated the injury while other soldiers handcuffed four men, who were later released.

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

"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."

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, wounding 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 Iraqi 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.

In the city's industrial zone, troops used even their Bradley fighting vehicles to break down the doors of warehouses, workshops and junkyards.

"Locksmiths will make a lot of money these days," said a U.S. soldier, laughing as he sat atop a Bradley.