A series of weekend raids stretching from Baghdad to western and southern Iraq have resulted in the killing of six and detention of more than 100 suspected insurgents, U.S. military officials said Sunday. The raids come amid an insurgency striking with renewed vigor as the fledgling Iraqi government takes shape with the appointment of Cabinet-level officials.
Task Force Baghdad, spearheaded by the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, conducted a series of “cordon and search” operations in southern Baghdad early Saturday morning, officials said. The raids, which kicked off around 2:30 a.m., resulted in 33 detentions.
“We are collecting better information on these terrorists,” Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman, was quoted as saying in a U.S. military release. “One reason … is due to the Iraqi Security Forces working hand in hand with us on the front lines.”
One of the men detained during the early-morning raid was formerly a high-ranking officer in Saddam’s military. That officer, whose name was not released, is suspected to be a planner of insurgent attacks.
U.S. troops confiscated mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and some 1,000 rounds of assault rifle in the ammunition, officials said.
In a separate action, a combination of U.S., Iraqi, Polish and Salvadoran troops detained 17 people in raids focused on the southern Babil province.
And in western Iraq, Marine-led forces conducted a series of raids early Sunday in Qaim, a city near the Syrian border, which U.S. officials say has become an important way station for moving fighters, weapons and money from Syria into Iraq.
Six people were killed and 54 arrested in those raids, which targeted the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi network’s “key lieutenants, suicide bombers and a large population of foreign fighters,” according to a statement released by the Multi-National Force-Iraq headquarters in Baghdad.
Coalition forces said they acted on information they received from Mohammad Amin Husayn al-Rawi, identified as a key associate al-Zarqawi. Al-Rawi was captured on April 26, the U.S. military said Saturday.
Iraqi security forces captured another al-Zarqawi associate on Thursday, the government said in a Sunday statement. He was identified as Ammar Adnan Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaydi, also known as Abul Abbas. Al-Zubaydi is accused of planning an April 2 assault outside Abu Ghraib prison, the statement said.
Al-Zarqawi, often described as the most wanted man in Iraq, is a Jordanian and self-proclaimed leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. That group has claimed responsibility for hundreds of attacks and kidnappings throughout the country.
The U.S.-led raids come at the end of bloody week in Iraq, with several large-scale suicide bombings aimed mainly at Iraqi police recruits and other security forces.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
