IRAQ Raid targets foes of U.S.

Operation Ivy Blizzard detained at least a dozen suspects.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. military patrol was ambushed by small arms fire, killing one soldier, the military said today, as forces hunted down members of the Iraqi insurgency that continues to claim American lives.
North of the capital, U.S. forces encircled the town of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, as part of a major raid on the area. Troops smashed down the gates of homes and the doors of workshops and junkyards there Wednesday in an effort to quash the violence that has persisted since Saddam Hussein was captured last week.
Several attacks on U.S. forces and Iraqi police in recent days have claimed more than a dozen lives in Baghdad and in predominantly Sunni areas west and north of the capital, once Saddam's power base.
U.S. officials say some 1,500 insurgents operate in Samarra, a hotbed of violence in the so-called Sunni Triangle.
'Thorn in our side'
"Samarra has been a little bit of a thorn in our side," said Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman. "It hasn't come along as quickly as other cities in the rebuilding of Iraq. This operation is designed to bring them up to speed."
In the northern city of Mosul, assailants shot and killed a policeman Wednesday, police said. Iraqi security forces there also opened fire on pro-Saddam demonstrators, wounding nine, witnesses said.
In Baghdad, a fuel truck exploded after colliding with a bus at an intersection, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding 20 -- raising initial claims by Iraqi officials that it was a suicide bombing by Saddam loyalists. But U.S. officials later said the blast was an accident, not an attack.
Shiite killed
Meanwhile, suspected followers of Saddam shot to death a representative of a major Shiite political party, a party official said today.
Muhannad al-Hakim, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was killed Wednesday morning while leaving his home in Baghdad, party official Latif al-Rubaie said. He blamed the killing on loyalists of the former dictator, who was captured Saturday.
Al-Hakim, who is in his mid-30s and was head of security at the Education Ministry, was a cousin of Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
A funeral procession was today.
In the Samarra raid by some 2,500 troops, dubbed Operation Ivy Blizzard, the 4th Infantry Division and Iraqi forces detained at least a dozen suspected guerrillas. Others got away, apparently tipped off about the raid.
The sweep came after U.S. troops on Tuesday snared a suspected rebel leader and 78 other people, all in one building near Samarra where they apparently were planning attacks. On Monday, guerrillas in the city ambushed an American patrol, sparking a battle in which soldiers killed 11 attackers.
"They've made a mistake to attack U.S. forces," Sassaman said. "No one knows the town better than we do. We're gonna clean this place."
Most wanted now
With Saddam in custody, the most wanted Iraqi fugitive is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a high-ranking member of the former regime thought to be organizing anti-U.S. attacks. But it was unclear whether U.S. officials think al-Douri is near Samarra.
Saddam is being held and interrogated in the Baghdad area, according to Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
The council has established a war crimes tribunal and hopes to put Saddam on trial for human rights abuses. The United Nations, the Vatican and many countries oppose a trial before any court that could sentence him to death -- and others have expressed worries Iraq's justice system cannot try him fairly.
Council member Adnan Pachachi said "all stages of the trial will be public." He added that international experts "are always welcome" because the tribunal allows for the appointment of foreign judges.
In London, President Bush's special envoy to Iraq met with Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of the United States' staunchest allies, to discuss efforts to relieve Baghdad's huge debt burden.
In the latest leg of his European tour, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III spent 30 minutes at Blair's Downing Street office to discuss the need to reduce Iraq's foreign debt in the 19-nation Paris Club.
Baker declined to comment as he left the talks, but smiled as he shook hands with the prime minister. The British government also had no immediate comment.
Headed to Russia
Baker was next headed to Russia -- Baghdad's biggest creditor with $8 billion in loans -- where he was expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later today.
Baker already has won support from Germany and France, which opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, for a plan to relieve the debt burden in the war-torn country. Italy, another ally in the war, also offered support for the plan.
According to the Paris Club, an informal group of official creditors that coordinates debt repayment, the British government is owed $931 million by Iraq, excluding late interest payments, and ranks seventh on the list of nations.