Closing In On Most Wanted Iraqi
U.S. forces moved a step closer to the most wanted man in Saddam Hussein's regime Wednesday, detaining his four nephews in a pre-dawn raid in the central city of Samarra.
Their uncle, former Iraqi Vice President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Al-Douri has a $10 million bounty on his head and is suspected to have been orchestrating insurgent attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces.
Hours later, a car bomb exploded in front of a police station in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad. Police said three people, including the bomber, were killed. The U.S. military put the death toll at five. About 30 people were injured. All the victims were Iraqis.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said soldiers killed eight Iraqis after their patrol came under fire outside Samarra on Tuesday.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, U.S. troops captured Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, a former regional Baath Party chairman and militia commander who was No. 54 on the list of 55 most-wanted figures, the military said Wednesday.
Al-Muhammad was arrested Sunday, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said. He called Al-Muhammad "an enabler" for many attacks against the coalition, but refused to discuss details of the arrest.
Elsewhere, an American soldier from the 101st Airborne Division died late Tuesday in a non-hostile incident in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said Wednesday. That raised the U.S. death toll to 496 since the conflict began in March.
In other developments:
Mr. Bush outlined his new policy Tuesday as he announced that Canada would be allowed to bid on some of the $18.6 billion in reconstruction work from which it had been excluded.
But France's defense minister says Paris will not drop its demand for the transfer of power into Iraqi hands for the chance to bid on lucrative reconstruction contracts
Al-Douri, a former Revolutionary Command Council vice chairman, is No. 6 on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. The top five on the list have either been captured or killed. His wife and daughter were arrested on Nov. 26 and remain in custody.
"One of these days his head will rise up above the water, and we will be able to capture him as well," Lt. Col. David J. Poirier of Chicago told an Associated Press reporter who observed the raid.
In the operation against al-Douri, 40 soldiers from the 720th Military Police Battalion based in Fort Hood, Texas, raided two houses in a dimly lit neighborhood of Samarra after a tip.
The two "main targets" are believed to be in close touch with al-Douri and finding safe houses for him, Poirier said.
"They have information they can provide to us … that would be extremely important," he said.
U.S. troops have conducted scores of raids in central Iraq since the fall of Saddam's three-decade regime, leading to the arrests of Saddam, other former high-ranking regime officials and anti-coalition insurgents.
Still, sporadic attacks by the insurgents have continued, such as Wednesday's car bombing in Baqouba, 40 miles north of the capital Baghdad.
Police Col. Salam Omar said the car tried to enter the walled compound of a one-story police station at about 8:20 a.m., and exploded when guards opened fire on it.
The blast killed the bomber and two bystanders, besides damaging the wall and shattering windows at the station and shops across the street, he said. Mustafa Jalal, a civil defense officer, said at least 10 of the 28 injured were police.
It was the second fatal bombing in Baqouba in a week. A bomb outside a Shiite Muslim mosque on Friday killed five.
Tuesday's reported ambush on the U.S. soldiers outside Samarra occurred while they were on a vehicle patrol. Eight cars driving past the convoy opened fire on the soldiers, who returned fire, killing eight Iraqis, said spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle in Tikrit.
In other violence in the area, unidentified attackers in a car fired at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing a policeman and a civilian bystander, said police major Adel Abdul-Kareem.
