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US sweep to root out rebels

In gunbattles and air strikes, US forces killed at least eight insurgents while sweeping through a village near the Syrian border in an offensive aimed at rooting out al-Qaeda militants in the region, the military said yesterday.

About 1,000 US troops, backed by attack helicopters and warplanes, began the offensive in the western village of Sadah on Saturday morning, also hoping to close insurgent supply routes and stem violence ahead of Iraq's crucial vote on a new constitution this month.

US aircraft firing missiles struck houses and cars, sending palls of smoke into the sky as the forces moved into Sadah, according to residents contacted by reporters. No US casualties were reported.

On Sunday morning, the US forces appeared to be widening the offensive to two nearby towns, residents said in telephone interviews. In Karabila, troops using loudspeakers were warning residents to stay inside for their own safety, and in Rumana, a town on the other side of the Euphrates River, helicopters fired on a few houses, sending plumes of black smoke up into the air, the witnesses said.

Elsewhere, insurgents kidnapped the brother of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh, the Shiite official who heads police forces, in Baghdad on Saturday, and the son of another top ministry official was kidnapped north of the capital, ministry spokesman Major Felah al-Mohammedawi said. Yesterday, several mortars exploded near the Interior Ministry, wounding four civilians, said police.

Gunmen also shot and killed an Iraqi merchant in Baghdad on his way to work Sunday, said police. Sunni insurgents have vowed to derail the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum and have launched a surge of violence that has killed at least 201 people -- including 15 US service members -- in Iraq in the past seven days.

The bodies of four Iraqis also were found in three different areas of Baghdad yesterday, with their hands tied behind their backs. Suspected insurgents often kidnap and kill Iraqis, dumping their bodies in isolated areas. The US military also reported that a 60-year-old Iraqi detainee who fell ill at Abu Ghraib prison died of a heart attack during surgery there.

The first day of the US military offensive Operation Iron Fist saw several clashes with insurgents in and around Sadah, 12km east of the Syrian border.

Insurgents drove two vehicles toward one US Marine position, dismounted and began to attack with small-arms fire, the military said. One of the vehicles was found to be rigged with explosives. The gunbattle left four insurgents dead, the military said. A fifth surrendered.

Marines found and destroyed a roadside bomb on the outskirts of Sadah, which is located on the banks of the Euphrates River, and a US tank destroyed a vehicle carrying a bomb southwest of the village, the military said.
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