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U.S.: Weapons, ammunition seized in IraqAmerican soldier wounded in Fallujah attack
(CNN) -- Coalition forces have staged raids this week in Iraq that have netted a number of weapons and ammunition, U.S. Central Command said Wednesday, citing help from Iraqis. Central Command said 18 operations have been conducted within the last 24 hours. Acting on a tip, soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division raided the Baghdad house of a former Saddam Hussein loyalist and seized items including two AK-47s, 11 bayonets, more than 550 rounds of ammunition, two protective masks, 31 protective mask canisters, three swords, two axes and documents, according to Central Command. Four people also were arrested, the command said. In other action in Baghdad, soldiers uncovered 500 ammunition rounds, 10 loaded AK-47 magazines and one rocket-propelled grenade, the military said. An Iraqi, claiming that regime loyalists were forcing him to conceal weapons, surrendered to police in the 4th Infantry Division, according to Central Command. He turned in three AK-47s, one 60 mm mortar, five 60 mm mortar rounds, three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, six rocket-propelled grenade rounds and 250 rounds of ammunition. A weapons cache was reported Sunday to the 4th Infantry Division by a tipster. More than 1,700 rounds of various ammunition, more than 900 mortar rounds, more than 37,000 anti-aircraft rounds and other weapons and explosives were found, Central Command said. In addition, an Iraqi turned in a rocket-propelled grenade and materials used to make improvised explosive devices to the 4th Infantry Division, Central Command said. The Iraqi also provided information on a man who teaches how to construct the devices, the command said. Meanwhile, tensions in the central Iraqi town of Fallujah flared up again this week against coalition forces. Fallujah has been the scene of several attacks on U.S. troops. A U.S. soldier was wounded Tuesday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Fallujah as a mob shouting anti-U.S. slogans ransacked a police station. The crowd also set police cars on fire. Witnesses said shots were fired at troops from the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who returned fire from inside a building. The crowd did not disperse until a U.S. helicopter started hovering over the area, CNN Correspondent Rym Brahimi reported from Baghdad. U.S. authorities have not confirmed the incident. Last month, the U.S. military reduced its presence at a police station in the city. Iraqi police had said the U.S. troops were putting them in danger. Pneumonia investigationTwo epidemiological teams investigating pneumonia cases among U.S. military personnel in the Persian Gulf region have so far found nothing indicating they were caused by unusual factors, an Army doctor said Tuesday. There have been about 100 cases of pneumonia among U.S. troops in Iraq and other parts of the Persian Gulf since March 1, and the Army has activated two teams of doctors to investigate. Besides Iraq, cases have been reported in Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Qatar. Two service members have died, and 15 were so sick that they required ventilators to help them breathe, the Army said. Three remain hospitalized, and 10 have recovered, the Army said. All of those requiring ventilators were soldiers except for one Marine. (Full story) U.S. military doctors have found no evidence that exposure to chemical and biological weapons caused the illnesses, said Col. Robert DeFraites, chief of preventive medicine of the Army's surgeon general's office. Gulf War Syndrome and Legionnaires' Disease are also unlikely, he said. (On the Scene: CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta) The causes of the two deaths have not been determined. Other developments
• A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division died when he fell from a roof in Mosul, Central Command said Wednesday. The fall happened Tuesday night. In Kuwait, a U.S. soldier assigned to Coalition Forces Land Component Command died Tuesday from an apparent heart attack. • U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld said Tuesday that U.S. troop strength is sufficient for various engagements in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at the moment, according to The Associated Press. Some military officials have said U.S. forces are overstretched. (Full story) • Arab League foreign ministers decided Tuesday not to recognize the interim Iraqi Governing Council as the legitimate representative of the Iraqi people, saying that any official recognition should come when the country has an elected government. The U.S. State Department had sought the council's recognition. The foreign ministers also urged ending the U.S.-led occupation according to a timetable. They called on member countries to help in the reconstruction of Iraq. (Analysis: The New York Times' Thomas Friedman) • Iraqi police have broken up a kidnapping ring that allegedly tortured victims and extorted money from their families, said Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner who is a senior adviser to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Kerik said Tuesday that the kidnapping ring is one of several dismantled in recent weeks. He said the group's ringleader is a friend of Saddam's half-brother. (CNN Access: Bernard Kerik) • Iraqi refugees are trickling back to their homeland, and relief agencies are preparing for their arrival, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday. The agency said that the southern cities of Basra and Umm Qasr received 244 refugees returning from Saudi Arabia's Rafha camp a week ago. Next week, a second convoy is expected in Basra with a similar number of people. (First refugees return home)
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