Spain’s prime minister meets with troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Reaffirming his support for the U.S.-led occupation, Spain’s prime minister lunched in a desert canteen with Spanish soldiers in Iraq on Saturday in a surprise trip reminiscent of President Bush’s Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad.

Also, in an apparent revenge campaign, attackers separately targeted two people with close ties to the former regime of Saddam Hussein, killing one Saturday in a hail of submachine gun fire, critically wounding another and killing her 5-year-old son, officials said.

In Samarra, a town near Tikrit where rebel activity has been intense, U.S. forces destroyed a house suspected of being used by insurgents to shoot at passing military convoys. And residents in the western town of Rawah, near the Syrian border, said a large number of American soldiers had entered the town and were conducting house-to-house searches.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar landed in Iraq at about 11 a.m. with a 16-member delegation to meet members of the 1,300-strong Spanish contingent in Iraq, based in the southern town of Diwaniyah. He left four hours later.

The trip was so secret that soldiers in the mess didn’t know Aznar was there until his visit was announced over a megaphone and the prime minister walked in. Bush staged a similar trip, secretly flying to spend a few hours with U.S. troops at Baghdad International Airport.

In brief comments to reporters, Aznar expressed support for Spanish troops and said he brought them greetings from King Juan Carlos. He said the soldiers were working for "the cause of freedom, democracy and respect for international law."

He depicted the soldiers’ mission as being part of a broad, global campaign against terrorism. "The safety of Spain is also defended in Iraq," he said.