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U.S. helicopter, jet down during Iraq raidU.S. forces hunt for Saddam loyalists
(CNN) -- Coalition forces battled loyalists of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein early Thursday in a raid on what U.S. Central Command called a terrorist training camp northwest of Baghdad. An assault on the camp began with a coordinated airstrike, according to Central Command, and a firefight followed involving ground forces, including members of the 101st Airborne Division. An Apache attack helicopter was shot down, apparently by hostile fire, during the mission, and an F-16 fighter plane crashed after suffering a mechanical failure, Central Command said. The helicopter's two-man crew and the F-16's pilot were recovered safely, military officials said. A coalition soldier received minor wounds in the operation, officials said. Central Command said the raid on the camp, 93 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, was part of its campaign to eradicate Baath Party loyalists, paramilitary groups and other "subversive elements." In a separate operation, U.S. forces have arrested 397 people since Monday in a wide-ranging mission -- dubbed Operation Peninsula Strike -- along a stretch of the Tigris River, about an hour north of Baghdad. More than 1,000 U.S. troops were involved in the operation, which ended Thursday morning, a U.S. military official in Baghdad said. Intelligence reports had indicated that the area had become a refuge for holdout Saddam supporters, reported CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman, who was with the 173rd Airborne Brigade on one of the raids. These holdouts are blamed for attacks that have killed 33 U.S. troops U.S. troops since U.S. President George W. Bush announced the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1, according to Pentagon officials. Specially trained soldiers are screening the detainees, officials said. A senior Pentagon official said 64 already have been released. Pentagon officials could not say if anyone of significance had been detained during the raid. (Full story) Meanwhile, U.S. troops Thursday cleared a crowded market area in central Baghdad after powerful explosives were found in a prosthetic leg. Local police called in the soldiers after spotting the object lying on the ground. Inside the prothesis, a U.S. ordnance disposal team found one 120mm high explosive mortar round, two 50mm mortar rounds and a small amount of TNT. Soldiers said the prosthetic leg was rigged with a trigger wire and would have caused extensive damage within a range of about 330 yards (300 meters). Also on Thursday, the U.S. administrator in Iraq said enough troops are in Iraq to keep the peace, despite the continuing armed resistance from Saddam's supporters. "I am satisfied that at the present time we have enough troops here, and the question now is to use them effectively against the people who want to do us harm," L. Paul Bremer told the House Armed Services Committee. The United States has about 150,000 troops in Iraq two months after ousting Saddam. Former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki had said before the war, however, that "several hundred thousand" troops would be needed to occupy Iraq. Also, ex-Army Secretary Thomas White said last week that Pentagon leaders underestimated the size of the force needed to keep the peace after ousting Iraqi leader Saddam. Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of ground forces in Iraq, said Iraq will be considered a combat zone "for some time." He said coalition forces have found handbills offering monetary rewards for attacks against them, but he and Bremer said they saw no signs of centralized command and control. "I think its localized," McKiernan said. "It's remaining regime loyalists, but there are other influences that I mentioned earlier that can be involved as well. I think that's why we have completed decisive combat operations, but we have not completed all combat operations yet." Bremer said law and order has "improved dramatically in the last two weeks" in Baghdad and other cities. But he said U.S. officials also face a problem with "political sabotage" by Saddam's supporters. Much of the looting of government buildings reported after Saddam's government collapsed April 9 was in fact an effort to cripple the reconstruction effort, he said. Other developments• Iraqi officials said that the Sacred Vase of Warka -- a nearly 4-foot tall, carved white limestone that is one of the country's most precious artifacts -- was returned Thursday to the Baghdad Museum. The vase was taken during the looting that followed the collapse of Saddam's government. (Full story) • CIA Director George Tenet appointed former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay to advise the agency on how to find possible Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, CIA officials said. Kay, 63, will be based in Iraq, officials said. He will be in charge of "refining the overall approach for the search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," one official said. The Pentagon's new Iraq Survey Group -- about 1,400 experts from the United States, Britain and Australia -- will provide direct support to Kay, according to the CIA announcement. • Another Iraqi on the U.S. most-wanted list of Iraqis has been captured by U.S. troops in Baghdad, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday. The official said Hussein al-Tikriti, the Iraqi Army Air Corps commander and No. 132 on the U.S. list, was captured May 26 during a search by Special Operations forces looking for illegal weapons in Baghdad. No other details were immediately available.
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