World

U.S. Soldier, Iraqi Pol Killed

December 19, 2003 / 7:29 AM EST / CBS/AP

A U.S. military patrol was ambushed by small arms fire, killing one soldier, the military said Thursday, as forces hunted down members of the Iraqi insurgency that continues to claim American lives.

North of the capital, U.S. forces encircled the town of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, as part of a major raid on the area. Troops smashed down the gates of homes and the doors of workshops and junkyards there Wednesday in an effort to quash the violence that has persisted since Saddam Hussein was captured last week.

Several attacks on U.S. forces and Iraqi police in recent days have claimed more than a dozen lives in Baghdad and in predominantly Sunni areas west and north of the capital, once Saddam's power base.

The military says a patrol was ambushed by small arms fire Wednesday in Baghdad. One soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in the attack. The soldier who died was the first U.S. combat casualty since Saddam's capture was announced, says CBS News Reporter Lisa Barron, and at least the 458th soldier to die in Iraq.

Also in Baghdad, suspected Saddam followers shot to death a representative of a major Shiite political party. Muhannad al-Hakim, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was killed Wednesday morning while leaving his home in Baghdad, party official Latif al-Rubaie said.

In other developments:

Baghdad residents snapped up copies of an Iraqi newspaper with a front-page photo of Saddam sitting in his jail cell with one of longtime opponents, Ahmad Chalabi, a member of Iraq's American-picked Governing Council and once a Pentagon favorite to succeed Saddam.

Iraq Survey Group leader David Kay is leaving the hunt for weapons of mass destruction for personal reasons, The Washington Post reports. Former top U.N. inspectors Hans Blix says he doubts any weapons will be found. The Post reports President Bush is suggesting there's little difference between the stockpiles of weapons Iraq was alleged to have, and the programs some evidence suggest they might have had.

Mr. Bush visits a Washington hospital Thursday to talk to soldiers wounded in Iraq. While at Walter Reed, Mr. Bush is also expected to drop in on Secretary of State Colin Powell, who's recuperating from surgery to remove a cancerous prostate.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair backed U.S. plans to relieve Baghdad's huge debt burden, following talks with special U.S. envoy and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Baker earlier extracted similar promises from Italy, France and Germany. He heads to Russia next.

But a top Russian diplomat says Moscow will stand up for the right of Russian companies to take part in reconstruction programs in Iraq. Washington's announcement last week that companies from countries that opposed the war cannot bid on $18.6 billion worth of prime reconstruction projects angered Russia.

Japan is sending 1,000 troops on a humanitarian mission to Iraq, its first military deployment to a combat zone since World War Two.

U.S. officials say some 1,500 insurgents operate in Samarra, a hotbed of violence in the so-called Sunni Triangle.

"Samarra has been a little bit of a thorn in our side," said Lt. 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."

Sgt. Robert Cargie, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division said Thursday that 86 people were arrested during raids, 12 of whom were on a U.S. target list.

Soldiers also discovered a weapons cache containing 200 AK47 assault rifles and some bomb-making material. "One of the five people arrested in connection with this raid was a weapons dealer," Cargie said Thursday in Tikrit.

Two Iraqis trying to attack U.S. soldiers were killed during the operation, Cargie said.

Troops smashed down the gates of homes and the doors of workshops and junkyards in Samarra on Wednesday in an effort to quash the violence that has persisted since Saddam was captured.

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.

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

With Saddam in custody, the most wanted Iraqi fugitive is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a high-ranking member of the former regime thought to be organizing anti-U.S. attacks. But it was unclear whether U.S. officials think al-Douri is near Samarra.

Saddam is being held and interrogated in the Baghdad area, according to Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

The council has established a war crimes tribunal and hopes to put Saddam on trial for human rights abuses. The United Nations, the Vatican and many countries oppose a trial before any court that could sentence him to death — and others have expressed worries Iraq's justice system cannot try him fairly.

Council member Adnan Pachachi said "all stages of the trial will be public." He added that international experts "are always welcome" because the tribunal allows for the appointment of foreign judges.