IRAQ U.S. raids homes; blast kills soldiers
The soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb as they traveled in a convoy.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. jets and gunships backed an artillery bombardment aimed at insurgents in southwest Baghdad today, as troops raided homes and arrested a Sunni sheik said to be close to the most wanted man. A string of separate bombings killed six civilians and three American soldiers.
The soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb at about 9 a.m. as they traveled in a convoy near Samarra, a town north of Baghdad where insurgents have often launched attacks.
Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded in front of the Kurdish Interior Ministry in the northern Iraq city of Irbil, near Kirkuk, at about 11 a.m., killing at least four people, according to one witness.
Irbil houses the Kurdish parliament. Under U.S.-led aerial protection, Iraqi Kurds, ethnically distinct from the majority Arabs, have ruled an autonomous Switzerland-sized stretch of northern Iraq since the end of the Gulf War more than a decade ago.
Kircout Ali, a civilian who was at the scene of the blast in Irbil, said the bomb exploded at barricades in front of the Interior Ministry. At least four passengers in a car beside the booby-trapped car were killed, Ali said. The U.S. military confirmed an explosion in Irbil, but released no further details.
Bomb in tunnel
Also today, a minibus detonated a roadside bomb in a Baghdad traffic tunnel, killing two people and two others were injured, hospital officials said. The bomb exploded in the Shurta tunnel around noon, when roads fill as residents go home for lunch.
Earlier today, Baghdad residents said explosions from the overnight U.S. bombardment were heard until about 2 a.m.
Maj. John Frisbie of the 1st Armored Division told The Associated Press that the barrage was aimed at several targets. He said Air Force fighters and gunships were used in the attack.
He would not elaborate on the targets but said 2nd Brigade made no arrests. Today's barrage could have been a show of force as the military steps up security against threats of attacks over the Christmas holiday by Baghdad's 14 identified guerrilla cells.
Frisbie indicated the military was still acting on information gleaned from the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein, and residents were also giving information.
"We continue to gain intelligence from the neighborhoods here and the residents of Baghdad who are seemingly frustrated at these continued [rebel] attacks," Frisbie said.
In Washington, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that information resulting from Saddam's capture led to arrests of 50 former regime leaders the day before.
There was a similar surge of information after Saddam's sons, Odai and Qusai, were killed in July, he told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
"The same phenomenon that happened after his sons were killed is happening again, which is a good sign and it probably tells you the role that fear plays in people's minds," Myers said.