American soldiers kill terror group suspects

BAGHDAD, Iraq — American soldiers killed three suspected members of an Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaida during a firefight in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said Monday. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded, and are in stable condition.

The interrogation of Saddam Hussein yielded more information, with the deposed leader acknowledging sending $40 billion abroad, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said in published remarks. The Iraqi official said Hussein provided the names of people who know where the money is.

The operation against the suspected Ansar al-Islam militants was carried out by soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division who came under small arms fire while searching homes on Sunday.

After the fight, U.S. troops seized two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, eight grenades and two assault rifles, the military said in a statement. The injured soldiers were in stable condition.

Six people in the house — a man, two women and three children — were turned over to Iraqi police.

In Monday’s report about Hussein, the U.S.-appointed council estimated that the Iraqi dictator seized $40 billion while in power. The council is now searching for that amount deposited in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries, council member Iyad Allawi told Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat.

"Saddam has started to give information on money that has been looted from Iraq and deposited abroad," Allawi told Asharq al-Awsat. "Investigation is now concentrated on his relationship with terrorist organizations and on the money paid to elements outside Iraq."

Allawi said Hussein, who has been questioned by U.S. interrogators since his capture this month, gave names of people who know where the money is deposited and also know the location of arms and ammunition depots used by insurgents in attacks against the coalition forces and the Governing Council.

The U.S. State Department was helping search for the Hussein money, spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday in Washington, adding that some funds had already been found in Syrian bank accounts.