Capture Doesn't Stop Violence

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By Mohamad Bazzi
MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT

December 17, 2003

Baghdad, Iraq - The Sunni Muslim heartland of Iraq erupted in violence over the past two days, in a strong signal that the anti-American insurgency would not taper off with Saddam Hussein's capture.

Pro-Hussein demonstrations in several cities ended with U.S. troops and Iraqi police exchanging fire with protesters. In Fallujah, a Sunni city 30 miles west of Baghdad that has been a center of opposition to the U.S. occupation, American troops yesterday broke up a second day of riots sparked by Hussein's humiliating capture Saturday. U.S. forces killed an Iraqi who had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at them, military officials said.

Chanting "We will defend Saddam with our blood and our souls," hundreds of protesters overran the office of Fallujah's U.S.-appointed mayor after Iraqi police withdrew from the streets.

In Ramadi, another Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad, U.S. troops killed three protesters and wounded two others Monday night, after hundreds of people rallied in support of Hussein. Military officials said troops were fired at repeatedly and a soldier was wounded.

Another pro-Hussein demonstration in the northern city of Mosul ended in violence yesterday. One policeman was killed and one injured, Iraqi police said. U.S. helicopters flew over the crowd and several armored vehicles were deployed nearby.

A roadside bomb wounded three soldiers in Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Two were in stable condition and the third returned to duty, military officials said.

U.S. forces arrested 73 suspected insurgents, including one guerrilla leader, in a raid near the central city of Samarra, military officials said. The raid netted Qais Hattam, one of the guerrilla leaders most sought by the 4th Infantry Division, said Capt. Gaven Gregory.

On Monday, guerrilla scouts in Samarra released a flock of pigeons as a U.S. patrol approached, apparently as a signal for an ambush, according to military officials. Two gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on American vehicles, and then took cover among children leaving school.

The attackers used a roadside bomb, automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in the attack but inflicted no casualties on the patrol, the military said. A U.S. commander on the scene said 11 insurgents were killed in the ensuing firefight.

It has never been clear how much influence Hussein had on the insurgency and whether he was coordinating it in any way beyond sending out audiotapes to Arab satellite channels. U.S. military commanders have cautioned against the unrealistic expectation that the insurgency would end with Hussein's capture.

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