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U.S., Iraqi Forces Mop Up in Samarra

Posted on: Sunday, 3 October 2004, 06:00 CDT

SAMARRA, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces scoured Samarra for holdouts on Sunday after reclaiming control of the city from Sunni militants in fierce fighting that won praise for Iraqi troops.

In Fallujah, another rebel-held city west of Baghdad, an airstrike badly damaged a building where U.S.-led forces said insurgents had stockpiled weapons.

U.S. and Iraqi commanders have declared the operation in Samarra a successful first step in a major push to wrest key areas from insurgents before January elections.

Iraqi police patrolled the city Sunday, while American soldiers and Iraqi National Guard members went house to house searching for militants and weapons caches.

As the gunfire subsided, residents emerged from their homes to survey the damage and bury the dead.

The military says 125 rebels have been killed and 88 captured since the operation started early Friday. But residents say many civilians are among the dead, including women and children.

"The people who were hurt most are normal people who have nothing to do with anything," said Abdel Latif Hadi, 45.

The strike in Fallujah was the latest aimed at groups with links to terrorists, particularly the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Followers of the Jordanian militant have claimed responsibility for a string of deadly bombings, kidnappings and other attacks.

"Forty-five minutes of secondary explosions indicated the building was being used as a huge weapons/ammunition cache," a coalition statement said. "A large number of enemy fighters are presumed killed."

The city hospital said the strike was one of several overnight that killed four civilians and wounded 12. The U.S. military, which confirmed only the one airstrike, regularly accuses the hospital of inflating casualty figures.

North of Baghdad, a police car hit a roadside bomb in the city of Baqouba, injuring one policeman, officials said.

A wave of bombings, mortar attacks and shooting sprees targeting police and would-be recruits has killed hundreds of people nationwide. Militants are trying to thwart U.S.-backed efforts to build a strong Iraqi force capable of taking over security from American troops.

Some 5,000 troops - 2,000 Iraqis and 3,000 Americans - swept into Samarra early Friday, seizing major government installations. A day later, they declared the city largely under their control.

Maj. Gen. John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, which spearheaded the assault, praised the performance of Iraqi troops.

Building a strong Iraqi force that can take over security from American troops is a cornerstone of the U.S. strategy to restore peace in Iraq. But during April offenses in Fallujah and Najaf, the fledgling Iraqi troops melted away at the first sign of confrontation, either fleeing or joining the insurgents.

"The more operations they conduct, the more confidence they will gain, and the better they will perform," said Maj. Neal E. O'Brian, a military spokesman who was in Samarra Saturday.

U.S. forces are to conduct mopping up operations for at least the next few days before handing over primary responsibility to Iraqi police and National Guard units.

Five Iraqi civilians, meanwhile, were wounded by U.S. tank fire in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City early Sunday, a hospital official said.

The injured were being treated at al-Sadr Hospital, the hospital director Abdel-Jabar Solag said.

There was no immediate report from the U.S. military about fighting in the slum, located in western Baghdad, which has been the scene of daily clashes and shelling.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are attempting to root out insurgents of the al-Mahdi Army who follow radical Muslim Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Aides of the cleric have recently indicated al-Sadr may seek to enter the political arena ahead of January general elections. The Iraqi government says it would welcome such a move but insists he must first disband his militia.

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