Hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi forces on Monday launched their biggest Baghdad raid in recent weeks, moving on foot through a central neighborhood and rounding up dozens of suspected insurgents, the military said.
About 500 members of Iraq's police and army swept through buildings in the Rashid neighborhood along with a "couple hundred" American soldiers, detaining 65 suspected militants, Lt. Col. Clifford Kent of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division said.
One Iraqi soldier suffered injuries but no American casualties were reported in the largest joint U.S.-Iraqi raid in Iraq's capital since the Fort Stewart, Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division assumed responsibility for the city on Feb. 27, Kent said.
One suspected insurgent was also being treated for wounds, the military said in a statement.
In other recent developments:
A report in The New York Times says senior Pentagon officials think their campaign in Iraq has made enough progress to plan significant troop cuts by early next year. The report says commanders cite progress in fighting insurgents and training Iraqi security forces.In the western town of Qaim, witnesses said insurgents hit the main gates of a U.S. military base with twin suicide car bombs early Monday.
At least three civilians were injured, said Ammar Fuad, a doctor at the hospital where they were taken. U.S. military officials had no immediate comment.In Baqouba, 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, demonstrators chanted anti-American slogans, continuing three days of protests against U.S. forces. Tens of thousands gathered Saturday in Baghdad to call for U.S.-led troops to leave, and more demonstrations were held on Sunday.A Defense Ministry official said that Iraqi security forces have arrested a person who claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two French journalists abducted and later released in Iraq. Iraqi army soldiers detained Amer Hussein Sheikhan in the Mahmoudiya area on April 4, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. No further details were available.A group claiming to have kidnapped a Pakistani diplomat in Iraq has demanded money for his release, a senior Pakistani government official said Monday on condition of anonymity. Malik Mohammed Javed, a deputy counselor at the Pakistani mission in Baghdad, went missing late Saturday after leaving home for prayers at a nearby mosque.Sunday, the terrorist group al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed to have kidnapped and killed Najaf police Brig. Gen. Bassem Mohammed Kadhim al-Jazaari while he was visiting Baghdad. "After his confessions, God's verdict was carried out against him," said the statement, which could not be independently verified. Iraqi Interior Ministry official Capt. Ahmed Isma'el said al-Jazaari was kidnapped in western Baghdad late Saturday, along with his nephew, but he had no other details.
Sunday, the Iraqi government announced Sunday that security forces had arrested Ibrahim Sabaawi, the son of the half brother of ousted ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, near Baghdad. The statement said Sabaawi was close to the former regime. "Until his arrest, he had been supporting terrorists and providing them with finances," it said.Al-Zarqawi has now acquired the dubious distinction of being included on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people, a diverse crowd ranging from Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.Charles Moose, the former police chief who led the D.C. sniper task force in 2002, is now serving in the National Guard. Moose is in San Antonio for the third month of a six-month active duty call-up as a major for the Air National Guard, on assignment studying non-lethal weapons, according to the Washington Post. Moose, 51, resigned as police chief and moved to Hawaii after being criticized for writing a book about the sniper case.Legislators pressed ahead with business on Monday as members of the 275-member National Assembly met to hear proposed rules for governing the lawmaking body.
Hussein al-Sadr, a lawmaker from the coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, said the group had decided to participate in the government, adding that the participation must be a "real and effective one and not a nominal one."
He said the coalition was demanding four ministerial posts, including one of the main ministries.
"If our demands are not met, then we will lead the opposition in the parliament," he said.
Ali al-Dabagh, a lawmaker from the Shiite-led United Iraq Alliance, said he thought the demands were too high.
One of Iraq's two vice presidents — Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a leading Shiite religious leader who called on voters to cast ballots on Jan. 30.
"We came as a delegation to thank Mr. Al-Sistani for his great work and insistence that led to the success of the elections and formation of a National Assembly," al-Yawer told reporters after the 90-minute meeting in the holy city of Najaf.