U.S. troops search houses in crackdown

Four American soldiers were killed Wednesday in a blast in Diyala province.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Thousands of U.S. troops swept house-to-house through mostly Shiite areas virtually unopposed Wednesday in the opening phase of the long-awaited Baghdad security crackdown. But four U.S. soldiers were killed outside of the capital in an area not covered by the operation.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers and police set up new checkpoints across the city of 6 million people, snarling traffic and forcing people to walk across bridges jammed with cars and trucks.
The U.S. military said 14 suspects were detained and four weapons caches discovered during the day's operation -- seemingly a low tally. But U.S. officials say they are more concerned about establishing a long-term presence in the areas so that the public will gain confidence in security forces to protect them.
The military said four U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday in an explosion in Diyala province, among six new U.S. deaths announced by the military. U.S. officers have expressed concern that insurgents and militias are leaving Baghdad to transfer the fight to Diyala and other provinces that border the capital.
Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, warned that advance publicity on the security operation had given Shiite militias time to flee the city for bases elsewhere in the country.
Where is al-Sadr?
There were conflicting reports, meanwhile, about the whereabouts of Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia has been blamed for some of the worst sectarian killings in the past year, after a U.S. official said the radical Shiite cleric had fled to Iran ahead of the security operation.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman, insisted that al-Sadr had left the country.
But several of the cleric's supporters denied the reports, with one official saying the cleric had met with government officials late Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where he has his headquarters.
Also on Wednesday, CNN reported that a Shiite militant group has issued a video of Iraqi-born U.S. Army translator Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Mich., who was abducted by gunmen Oct. 23.
The video was broadcast by CNN and it was unclear when it was made. Al-Taayie's uncle identified him from the video, the network said. The video did not immediately turn up in an AP search of militant Web sites.
At least 38 Iraqis also were killed or found dead nationwide, including four civilians who died when a parked car bomb struck a predominantly Shiite district in central Baghdad.
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