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U.S. casualties prompt Iraq security crackdownFour soldiers wounded in 36 hours
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. forces in Iraq are working to tighten security and crack down on remaining pockets of resistance in response to a series of attacks against American troops, military officials said Friday. Four soldiers were wounded in five incidents over 36 hours Thursday and Friday, they said, and five U.S. soldiers were killed in a spate of attacks earlier this week. Sources say commanders are considering whether the situation warrants a major military sweep through Fallujah and other pockets of resistance from regime loyalists in the areas around Baghdad and west of the capital city. In the latest incidents; • Two soldiers were wounded in Ba'qubah, near the Iranian border, when a suspected rocket-propelled hit their vehicle. • In Mosul, a soldier was wounded when their vehicle was fired on at an American military checkpoint. • A fourth soldier was wounded in Baghdad when the convoy he was riding in was attacked. • Two other U.S. positions were attacked in Baghdad, but no American soldiers were wounded, officials said. In one of those attacks, at a military checkpoint two attackers were killed. Pentagon officials said any operation to crack down on militants would have its own difficulties because resistance is scattered and it remains difficult to pinpoint precise targets. News of the latest incidents came a day after Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. Army general in Iraq, said that deploying more troops northwest of Baghdad is an option in response to a series of attacks that have killed five U.S. soldiers in the past week. McKiernan said the area in which the attacks occurred -- between Fallujah and Hit along the Euphrates River -- was an escape route for some Iraqi leadership figures who tried to sneak out of Baghdad. A Republican Guard unit was also active in the area as U.S.-led coalition forces approached the capital. U.S. Central Command reported that in the past 24 hours eight raids and 2,315 patrols were conducted across Iraq. Some 226 patrols involved Iraqi police forces working with coalition military forces. It was reported that 175 people were detained. In addition, military sources confirmed that the decision has been made to leave most of the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq until the situation stabilizes. "Nobody is coming home at the moment," said one military source said, referring to U.S. ground forces. It had been expected that the 3rd Infantry Division would be one of the first Army ground combat units to leave Iraq. There are 295,000 U.S. and coalition troops in the Central Command theater and 147,000 U.S. and British forces inside Iraq. That number is expected to increase to 160,000 in the next several days. Other developments• The Department of Transportation Friday lifted a nearly 13-year ban on flights between the U.S. and Iraq. While DOT's order lifts restrictions imposed in 1990, it does not authorize air carriers to immediately begin air service between the two countries because procedures for restoring service are still under review, the DOT said. • An Iraqi man suspected of involvement in the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims was mistakenly released from a detention facility earlier this month, the U.S. military said Thursday. Mohammed Jawad An-Neifus was cleared for release after hiding his true identity from a screening officer, the statement said.
• British military police questioned a British soldier Friday about allegations that Iraqi prisoners of war were mistreated, officials said. Officers were alerted by a photo shop when developers became concerned about several pictures on a roll of film handed in for processing. The Sun newspaper reported Friday that one of the images showed an Iraqi POW gagged and bound, hanging in netting from a fork-lift truck driven by a British soldier. (Full story) • President Bush left Washington early Friday on an ambitious seven-day, six-nation trip during which he will get personally involved in Middle East diplomacy and receive an update from U.S. officials in charge of Iraq. He also will try to mend fences with France and other European countries that opposed the war to topple Saddam Hussein. (Full story) • A senior Pentagon official said the U.S. still believes that some regime leaders were killed when U.S. warplanes bombed the Dora Farms compound near Baghdad on the opening night of the war. President Bush approved the attack based on intelligence that Saddam Hussein and his sons might be there. The official said the United States thinks it is "probably true" that Saddam Hussein was taken out on a stretcher. The official said that currently the Bush administration is "operating as if we believe Saddam Hussein is alive but we really don't know either way." • Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi said Thursday that Saddam Hussein is organizing the attacks against U.S. troops from inside Iraq. In a satellite news conference Thursday with international journalists attending CNN's World Report conference in Atlanta, Chalabi said the attacks on U.S. troops -- including deadly attacks in the past week -- are "taking place directly, I believe, as an action of the Baathists." (Full story) • A top Iraqi Kurdish leader Thursday praised the current U.S. presence in Iraq, and said he would not oppose establishment of permanent American military bases there. "If there would be a necessity, why not?" said Jalal Talabani, founder and secretary-general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two Kurdish groups controlling northern Iraq. "The Americans have in many places military bases." (Full story)
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