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US generals admit to killing at least 97 Iraqis in two days

US troops, locked in the most intense combat operations since US President George W. Bush declared victory in Iraq, on Friday admitted killing at least 97 Iraqis in two days.

The deaths follow a warning from US generals that locally organized resistance fighters are launching increasingly sophisticated attacks. The warning comes two months after Bush declared that major combat operations were over.

US forces launched two military operations north of Baghdad designed to clean out an area that provided many of Saddam Hussein's strongest supporters. Six US soldiers were injured.

At least 70 people were killed on Thursday in an area described by the US as a "terrorist training camp," about 130km northwest of Baghdad. The operation was intended to "eradicate Baath party loyalists, paramilitary groups and other subversive elements," the US military said.

The raid began with an air strike shortly after midnight, designed to destroy the camp. Paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division, as well as special forces soldiers, then poured in to clear out the remaining fighters. "It is a large operation. It is ongoing," a US military spokesman said.

Pentagon officials in Washington have suggested there were "foreign fighters" using the camp, although it was unclear who precisely was killed. Troops found around 80 surface-to-air missiles, 78 rocket-propelled grenades and 20 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

"It was a tough fight. They were well-trained or well-equipped, and clearly well prepared for this," General Richard Myers said in Washington.

Later, officials said troops had also arrested 74 suspects described only as al-Qaeda sympathizers near the northern city of Kirkuk.

In a separate incident yesterday US troops killed 27 Iraqis after a tank patrol was attacked near Balad, 55km north of Baghdad.

More than 4,000 troops were sent to the area this week as part of Operation Peninsula Strike after generals were given "actionable intelligence" that resistance forces were grouped in the area. Around 400 suspects were arrested.

Yesterday several tanks from the 4th Infantry Division were ambushed on a main highway heading north by fighters using rocket-propelled grenades. Soldiers shot back and killed four Iraqis. Then Apache helicopters were called in to chase down the rest of the group and another 23 people were killed, US Central Command said.

It was the first time such a large group has mounted an attack on a US position since the end of the war. At least 40 US soldiers have died in attacks and accidents since the end of the war. Around 150 were killed during the combat stages of the war.

Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the commander of ground forces in Iraq, admitted on Thursday that the attacks were growing in sophistication. An Apache helicopter was shot down on Thursday.
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