Seraphim
01-09-2004, 01:58 AM
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A U.S Army soldier guards Iraqi detainees, following one of a series of night raids, in Tikrit, Iraq (news - web sites), early Friday, Jan. 9, 2004. U.S. forces arrested 13 Iraqis wanted in connection with planning funding and conducting attacks on coalition forces. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces in Tikrit detained 30 Iraqis, including a dozen suspected insurgents, in one of the biggest raids since the end of the American-led war to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
The operation came hours after a Black Hawk medevac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, killing all nine soldiers aboard, and a C-5 transport plane limped safely back to the Baghdad airport after being struck by insurgent fire.
Two blasts also shook central Baghdad shortly after dawn Friday, and security guards said several rockets struck a hotel used by Western contract workers. Windows were shattered and there was other minor damage but no casualties.
More than 300 soldiers swept through Saddam's hometown of Tikrit just before midnight Thursday in a search for 18 men and teenagers suspected in anti-U.S. attacks, including the Oct. 1 killing of a female American soldier.
In the four-hour operation, the troops took 30 Iraqis into custody, among them 12 of the 18 wanted people. The other detainees were believed to have links to those suspected in the attacks, officials said.
Two of the captured men were suspected of planting a roadside bomb that killed Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, 21, of Houston, on Oct. 1.
Since April, insurgents in Tikrit have killed five American soldiers and wounded 52, making the city one of the toughest places for coalition forces to control following the collapse of Saddam's three-decade dictatorship.
The Black Hawk, which was clearly marked with a red cross, went down Thursday about four miles south of Fallujah, a stronghold of the anti-American insurgency, according to the 82nd Airborne Division. Witnesses said it was hit by a rocket, but U.S. officials said the cause was unknown.
A farmer who lives in the area, Mohammed Ahmed al-Jamali, said he heard the distinctive whoosh of a rocket and saw the helicopter with damage to its tail. The 27-year-old said he rushed to the scene but found everyone dead.
The helicopter was a medical evacuation aircraft but it was unclear if it was carrying patients, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Twice before, American helicopters have gone down near Fallujah, a city 35 miles west of Baghdad.
In Thursday's close call at Baghdad International Airport, a transport plane carrying 63 people declared an in-flight emergency and landed safely shortly after takeoff, the Air Force said.
It said initial information indicated the engine exploded as a result of "hostile action from the ground." No one was injured.
Also Thursday, the military said a U.S. soldier died Wednesday of injuries suffered in a mortar attack that wounded 30 other troops and a civilian west of Baghdad.
The deaths brought to nearly 500 the number of Americans killed in Iraq (news - web sites) from hostile and non-hostile causes, according to the U.S. Central Command and the Department of Defense (news - web sites).
Hamza Ali, security chief for the compound of the Bourj al-Hayat and Sindibad Palace hotels, said three attackers drove up at 6 a.m., blasted three rounds from shoulder-fired launchers and fled. Ali said security at the hotel, which is protected by blast walls and a checkpoint, had been tipped off about the possibility of an attack.
Two rockets hit the fourth and fifth floors of the Bourj al-Hayat, where U.N. weapons inspectors stayed before the Iraq war started on March 20. A third exploded in the empty hotel pool.
The five-story Bourj al-Hayat also was hit by rocket-propelled grenades on Christmas Day, when anti-U.S. insurgents launched coordinated attacks against several hotels and embassies, injuring two Iraqis.
Later Friday, a bomb planted on a western Baghdad road leading to a U.S. military base exploded, wounding two Iraqi passers-by, said Lt. Col. Anthony Right, commander of the U.S. Army's 17th Engineering Battalion.
A U.S Army soldier guards Iraqi detainees, following one of a series of night raids, in Tikrit, Iraq (news - web sites), early Friday, Jan. 9, 2004. U.S. forces arrested 13 Iraqis wanted in connection with planning funding and conducting attacks on coalition forces. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces in Tikrit detained 30 Iraqis, including a dozen suspected insurgents, in one of the biggest raids since the end of the American-led war to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
The operation came hours after a Black Hawk medevac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, killing all nine soldiers aboard, and a C-5 transport plane limped safely back to the Baghdad airport after being struck by insurgent fire.
Two blasts also shook central Baghdad shortly after dawn Friday, and security guards said several rockets struck a hotel used by Western contract workers. Windows were shattered and there was other minor damage but no casualties.
More than 300 soldiers swept through Saddam's hometown of Tikrit just before midnight Thursday in a search for 18 men and teenagers suspected in anti-U.S. attacks, including the Oct. 1 killing of a female American soldier.
In the four-hour operation, the troops took 30 Iraqis into custody, among them 12 of the 18 wanted people. The other detainees were believed to have links to those suspected in the attacks, officials said.
Two of the captured men were suspected of planting a roadside bomb that killed Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, 21, of Houston, on Oct. 1.
Since April, insurgents in Tikrit have killed five American soldiers and wounded 52, making the city one of the toughest places for coalition forces to control following the collapse of Saddam's three-decade dictatorship.
The Black Hawk, which was clearly marked with a red cross, went down Thursday about four miles south of Fallujah, a stronghold of the anti-American insurgency, according to the 82nd Airborne Division. Witnesses said it was hit by a rocket, but U.S. officials said the cause was unknown.
A farmer who lives in the area, Mohammed Ahmed al-Jamali, said he heard the distinctive whoosh of a rocket and saw the helicopter with damage to its tail. The 27-year-old said he rushed to the scene but found everyone dead.
The helicopter was a medical evacuation aircraft but it was unclear if it was carrying patients, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Twice before, American helicopters have gone down near Fallujah, a city 35 miles west of Baghdad.
In Thursday's close call at Baghdad International Airport, a transport plane carrying 63 people declared an in-flight emergency and landed safely shortly after takeoff, the Air Force said.
It said initial information indicated the engine exploded as a result of "hostile action from the ground." No one was injured.
Also Thursday, the military said a U.S. soldier died Wednesday of injuries suffered in a mortar attack that wounded 30 other troops and a civilian west of Baghdad.
The deaths brought to nearly 500 the number of Americans killed in Iraq (news - web sites) from hostile and non-hostile causes, according to the U.S. Central Command and the Department of Defense (news - web sites).
Hamza Ali, security chief for the compound of the Bourj al-Hayat and Sindibad Palace hotels, said three attackers drove up at 6 a.m., blasted three rounds from shoulder-fired launchers and fled. Ali said security at the hotel, which is protected by blast walls and a checkpoint, had been tipped off about the possibility of an attack.
Two rockets hit the fourth and fifth floors of the Bourj al-Hayat, where U.N. weapons inspectors stayed before the Iraq war started on March 20. A third exploded in the empty hotel pool.
The five-story Bourj al-Hayat also was hit by rocket-propelled grenades on Christmas Day, when anti-U.S. insurgents launched coordinated attacks against several hotels and embassies, injuring two Iraqis.
Later Friday, a bomb planted on a western Baghdad road leading to a U.S. military base exploded, wounding two Iraqi passers-by, said Lt. Col. Anthony Right, commander of the U.S. Army's 17th Engineering Battalion.