BAGHDAD, Iraq – American troops captured more than 70 suspected insurgents in a town north of Baghdad on Tuesday, just hours after a patrol of Fort Lewis-based soldiers was ambushed by Iraqis who released a flock of pigeons to signal the assault, military officials said.
The officials said 11 of the attackers were killed as soldiers repelled the ambush in the town of Samarra, about 60 miles north of the capital. No U.S. soldiers were killed or wounded.
Saddam Hussein loyalists also rioted in Baghdad, stormed the office of a U.S.-backed mayor in Fallujah and battled American troops in Ramadi – making it clear that Hussein’s capture has not quelled violence in Iraq.
A roadside bomb wounded three American soldiers in Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, and a pro-Hussein demonstration in the northern city of Mosul ended in violence, with a policeman killed and a second injured.
In the Abu Safa raid, 4th Infantry Division troops captured rebel leader Qais Hattam, deemed a “high-value target,” military officials said. Soldiers arrested 72 suspected insurgents who were with Hattam, the officials said. The guerrilla leader was described as a major financier of insurgents who have been fighting the U.S.-led coalition for months.
Hattam is not on the U.S. list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis. Thirteen fugitives from that list remain at large.
A document discovered during the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has enabled U.S. military authorities to assemble detailed knowledge for the first time of what they regard as a key network behind as many as 14 clandestine insurgent cells, said Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division.
On Monday afternoon, the military said, a patrol from the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Division was driving through Samarra, near Abu Safa, in their 19-ton Stryker armored vehicles when they noticed a large flock of pigeons take flight.
Moments later, the soldiers were attacked by two men on a motorcycle, who then took cover behind a group of schoolchildren. Because of the children, the military said, the soldiers limited their fire and the attackers escaped.
A short while later, the same patrol was attacked in rapid succession by two roadside bombs, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. In the ensuing fight, the Americans killed 11 of their attackers, according to a military spokesman.
In Mosul, soldiers fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of demonstrators marching through the center of town and waving old bank notes with Hussein’s image.
In Fallujah, armed Hussein loyalists converged on the office of the mayor until U.S. troops dispersed the crowd.
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