US swoop nets guerrilla suspects in Iraq

HAWIJA - Hundreds of US troops descended on the Iraqi town of Hawija yesterday, breaking down doors, demolishing walls and seizing suspected guerrillas in the oil-rich region's largest raid since Saddam Hussein's fall.

Officers said they captured 27 guerrilla suspects, including the alleged leaders of two cells of the Saddam Fedayeen militia.

But they denied reports they had caught Saddam's right-hand man, Izzat Ibrahim.

"Every one of these guys we've got today are quality targets and have done something directly against us or our forces," Colonel William Mayville told his officers at a briefing in the northern Iraqi town near the city of Kirkuk.

"This city is being held hostage. There are thugs, there are bullies, they are armed ... There's a lot of folks would like to give us information but fear the consequences."

Up to 1000 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade sealed off the cold, muddy, mainly Sunni Arab town before dawn yesterday, and were still searching it after dark.

Soldiers broke open the front gate to the house of Adel Ali Saleh at dawn in near-freezing temperatures.

"I've got breathing problems," protested the 28-year-old when a yellow bag was placed over his head as he knelt in the muddy street outside.

"They all say that," Specialist Roberto Sandifer said.

"He has Fedayeen tattoos on his arm. He's on our list."

Soldiers stormed into the house of an elderly man, but apologised when he told them the suspect they were looking for lived next door.

"We're very sorry," Major Doug Vincent said, handing him a flyer of apology which promised to create a new Iraq "in which to raise your children and practice your religion without fear".

In another incident, soldiers brought in a bulldozer to destroy the house of Aziz Abdel-Wahhab after a large cache of explosives was found there.

They relented, and destroyed only the front wall of the compound, after the elderly man, on crutches, gave information on the whereabouts of his sons.

Across the town, soldiers found walls plastered with anti-US and pro-Saddam graffiti and posters bearing slogans such as "Saddam is the pride of the Arabs", "Death to the agents", and "Don't be armour for the Americans".

In the central square, a tank smashed a monument carrying a mural of Saddam.

American soldiers said someone had cleaned Saddam's face, which had been obscured a month ago.

"Let them take it away," said Khaled, a teenager who works in a nearby clothes shop.

"Three years after it went up, the old regime arrested one of my relatives. That's how I remember this monument."

Townsfolk gathered in large crowds and stood in silence as the US troops blocked the central area.

But many erupted in anger when asked about the operation, dubbed Bayonet Lightning.

"Frankly, I prefer Saddam," said one, who gave his name as Mohammad Hussein.

"Now the streets are filthy, the electricity goes out and crime has become a big problem."

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq