- BAGHDAD (AFP) -- A US soldier
died and another was wounded in an ambush, the US military said, after
at least three other soldiers were wounded in separate attacks despite
a major US offensive to squeeze insurgents after the capture of Saddam
Hussein.
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- The ambush was mounted in Baghdad's Karkh district against
a vehicle patrol at around 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) Wednesday, a US spokeswoman
said. An Iraqi interpreter was also hurt, she added.
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- The latest death brings to 199 the number of US combat
fatalities in Iraq since President George W. Bush declared major fighting
over on May 1, according to an AFP tally of US casualty reports.
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- But the chief of the US Central Command, General John
Abizaid, gave the most upbeat assessment yet by a senior commander assessing
the impact of Saddam's capture on Saturday.
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- He said that using intelligence gained in part as a result,
US forces had mounted a "full court press" to capture mid-level
leaders of the former Iraqi regime who are believed to be key to the insurgency
in Iraq.
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- "In the past 48 hours, we've had a very good haul,"
Abizaid told reporters in Kirkuk, 255 kilometres (160 miles) north of Baghdad
on Thursday. He said the leaders of several cells of Saddam's banned Baath
party had been captured.
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- "Make no mistake: the loss of Saddam Hussein is
a huge psychological blow and will pay dividends over time," said
Abizaid, who was quoted by the Pentagon's Armed Forces Press Service.
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- US troops meanwhile pressed on with a massive operation
aimed at rooting out anti-coalition elements in the flashpoint city of
Samarra, 125 kilometres (85 miles) from Baghdad.
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- So far, they have killed two people and captured 86 others
in the offensive in a city where the military says reconstruction efforts
have been hampered by insurgent activity.
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- Of the 86 people detained since Operation Ivy Blizzard
was launched at 2:00 am Wednesday (2300 GMT Tuesday), 12 had been wanted
for anti-coalition activities, said Sergeant Robert Cargie, a spokesman
for the US 4th Infantry Division.
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- He added that troops participating in the ongoing operation
found 200 AK-47 assault rifles, bomb-making equipment and other weapons.
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- But US commanders and senior Pentagon officials have
warned they expect more violence in the wake of the capture of Saddam.
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- In Iraq's northern capital, Mosul, three US soldiers
were wounded in separate attacks, Iraqi police said.
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- Police Lieutenant Haytham Mohammad Jamal said two US
soldiers were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the city.
The Americans returned fire, wounding one attacker who fled the area, he
said.
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- Some six hours later, eight mortar rounds landed at an
American position near the University of Mosul, wounding one US soldier
and damaging a Humvee vehicle, said Mazen Khalil Jassem of the Facilities
Protection Service (FPS), which guards government buildings and facilities.
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- The 101st Airborne Division's public affairs section
had no information on the incidents when contacted late Wednesday.
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- An unknown number of US soldiers were also wounded near
Kirkuk Wednesday evening when two roadside bombs exploded as their convoy
passed, police said. The military could provide no confirmation.
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- However a spokeswoman said a blast which killed 10 Iraqis
and injured 15 in Baghdad on Wednesday -- blamed by Iraqi police on insurgents
-- was caused by an accident and not a bomb.
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- "It was just an accident yesterday. It was a fuel
truck that got hit by another truck," the spokeswoman said. She said
a bomb was not involved in the incident.
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- Iraqi police had said the tanker was filled with explosives
and blew up when the driver lost control as he collided with a civilian
vehicle.
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- In Hawija, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Kirkuk,
some 1,000 people demonstrated Thursday in support of Saddam, firing their
weapons in the air in a town west of the oil centre, an AFP correspondent
said.
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- Many of the demonstrators were university students or
men in traditional dress. They carried portraits of Saddam as they marched
from a local market to the town's seat of government.
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- Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani added his voice in
an interview to the debate over the fate of Saddam, saying he would rather
see the former dictator sentenced to life in prison than executed.
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- "I want Saddam put in jail for life," Talabani,
who is a member of the Governing Council, told the Washington Times. "I
want him to suffer daily as he realizes how his people hate him. Let him
see how we build a new Iraq free from his evil grip."
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- US President George W. Bush has called for the deposed
president to be given "the ultimate justice" but so far his stance
has met with little international support.
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