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U.S. forces hunt Saddam loyalists
BAGHDAD, Iraq (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 a terrorist training camp began with a coordinated airstrike," Central Command said in a statement. "A direct firefight ensued with ground forces early [Thursday] morning. Ground forces included members of the 101st Airborne Division." An AH-64 Apache attack helicopter was shot down, apparently by hostile fire, during the operation, according to Pentagon officials. Coalition ground forces recovered the two crew members "almost immediately" and secured the crash site, Central Command officials said. The crew wasn't injured, officials said. During the same raid, a U.S. F-16 fighter crashed due to mechanical failure, Pentagon officials said. The pilot was recovered uninjured, officials said. A coalition soldier also received minor wounds in the operation, which began Wednesday. 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. Intelligence reports indicated that the area had become a refuge for pro-Saddam holdouts, reported CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman. These holdouts are blamed for a string of deadly ambushes that have killed 33 U.S. troops since President Bush announced the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1, according to Pentagon officials. More than 1,000 U.S. troops were involved in the operation, which ended Thursday morning, a U.S. military official in Baghdad said. Under the cover of night, ground attack squads went door-to-door searching for suspects, while boats patrolled the Tigris and helicopters hovered overhead. The sweep initially netted a sleepy, bewildered group of children, women, the elderly and a sprinkling of men, reported Wedeman, who was on the scene with the 73rd Airborne Brigade. The U.S. troops bound the people's hands behind their backs with plastic, detaining them in the front yard of a house belonging to a former midlevel officer under the Baathist regime. The troops searched every room of the residence. Men and teenage boys were taken away for questioning. "We were astounded," Mohamed Al-Jabouri, an Iraqi who was not detained, said after the raid. "We imagined the Americans would bring freedom and democracy, but the opposite has happened." Col. Dominic Carracillo explained that the Iraqis were handcuffed "for our own safety and quite frankly for their own safety." "There are a lot of reports of young women, kids, walking up to Humvees and throwing grenades in," he said. Inside the house, the U.S. troops found an AK-47 assault rifle and a few pistols. 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. Forces in the strike included U.S. Army infantry, armor, artillery, aviation and engineers and U.S. Air Force aviation elements, according to a Central Command statement. A 10 p.m.-to-4 a.m. curfew has been implemented on the peninsula "for the safety and security of civilians and coalition forces," the statement said. CNN Correspondent Kathleen Koch and Pentagon Producer Mike Mount contributed to this report.
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