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20 Iraqis killed by US troops Policeman shot dead in Mosul; three American soldiers hurt in Tikrit blast SAMARRA, Iraq: US forces said they shot dead at least 20 Iraqis in rebellious towns while a bomb in Tikrit wounded three US soldiers on Tuesday as violence simmered over Saddam Hussein’s capture. Eleven attackers died when an ambush went wrong in Samarra, 125 kilometres from Baghdad, a US military statement said. A patrol "repelled a complex ambush" on Monday afternoon but emerged unscathed despite being "inundated" with fire, including automatic weapons, a home-made bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar fire, the military said. "A company commander on the scene confirmed that 11 attackers had been killed ... Samarran residents moved the attackers’ bodies from the area. "There were no coalition casualties during the firefight and, except for a civilian automobile that was damaged by a rocket-propelled grenade, there was no damage to any other property or equipment," it said. At the local hospital, however, officials said they had received only one body and one man wounded in the leg. Ismael Hamada Selah, 28, died of chest wounds and was buried on Tuesday, an AFP correspondent reported. Residents and relatives said he was a civilian construction worker. A correspondent saw bullet damage on residential buildings in the Al-Khadra area on the edge of town, where the incident took place. Captain Gaven Gregory, commander of 1-8 Battalion’s C Company, said they arrested a key financier of anti-US attacks and seized a large quantity of explosives during a raid here on Tuesday. Quaiss Hattam was on the blacklist of wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s regime, said the US commander. "We believe he was chief financier for getting money from Saddam and his bank accounts to fund attacks against the American soldiers," said another officer, Captain Karl Pfuetze. "I’ve been looking for Hattam and his bombmaking cell for six months," he said. Hattam was one of 88 people arrested during the operation, he said and added another of the detainees is a lawyer whose name was not immediately available. He allegedly confessed to owning 1.9 million dollars seized during an earlier raid. Pfuetze said the lawyer worked for a Kuwaiti company, which had contracts with the American military. During Tuesday’s raid soldiers discovered 30 kg of C-4 explosive, cellular phone detonators and switches, he added. Meanwhile, a policeman was killed on Tuesday and another seriously wounded by drive-by gunmen in Mosul after a pro-Saddam demonstration by about 1,000 university students, police said. And in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, three US soldiers were wounded when their Humvee vehicle hit a roadside bomb, a favourite weapon of anti-coalition insurgents. A few hours later, visibly angry soldiers staged a show of force, dispersing demonstrators and warning residents that troops would not hesitate to use their firepower to disperse any future pro-Saddam protests. "They will not be allowed to go around kissing pictures of Saddam," said Lt-Col Steven Russell, who commands the 4th Infantry Division’s 1-22 battalion in Tikrit, a cauldron of anti-American sentiment. Troops staged a show of force in Fallujah, after Saddam supporters who refused to believe the arrest of former Iraqi leader trashed a regional government office on Monday. Riots had also erupted on Monday night in the neighbouring town of Ramadi where loyalists put of posters of Saddam and ransacked a government office there. The US military said on Tuesday one soldier had been injured in Ramadi after the demonstrations by between 500 and 750 people. "In a separate attack, approximately 30 Iraqis began firing on a unit returning from a weapons cache," a military statement said. "The unit returned fire, killing one of the attackers." In Fallujah, two Iraqis were also gunned down, police and journalists at the scene said. Using documents found on Saddam Hussein, American forces have captured several members of a cell working in the capital, a senior US commander said. Papers discovered in the surrender of the ex-president on Saturday night have provided leads to the group, which was believed to provide financial assistance to anti-coalition elements, General Martin Dempsey told CNN. The News International, Pakistan Update
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