Many killed in US bombing of Samarra

Captain Bill Coppernoll said on Saturday the bombing was part of an operation called Cajun Mousetrap III.

The attack "was conducted to assist in the freedom of movement for Iraqi citizens and deny the enemy sanctuary in the surrounding area ... initial reports indicate that approximately 50 anti-Iraqi forces were killed", he said.

At least 13 Iraqis were also killed and 84 wounded in heavy overnight fighting between occupation troops and resistance fighters in Samarra.

"We have received 13 bodies including three women and two children and 84 injured," said doctor Abd Al-Hamid al-Samarrai of the city's general hospital - adding that many of the wounded were also women and children.

Civilian homes

Police said more than 40 homes and several civilian vehicles were destroyed in the fighting as well as the municipal building and the offices of the political party of Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib.

Mosques were heard urging people through loudspeakers to donate blood.

The US military confirmed it had conducted operations in the Sunni Muslim region, but refused to provide further details.

Hilla battle

Iraqis have also been killed in clashes in Hilla between resistance fighters, Iraqi security forces and occupation troops.

Eight Iraqis were killed and 33 more wounded south of Baghdad in fierce clashes between Shia resistance fighters and Iraqi police and security forces backed by Polish occupation troops.

Police Chief Qais Hamza said on Saturday fighting began after a demonstration turned violent in the city of Hilla.

The dead and wounded were taken to two hospitals in the capital, where the toll was confirmed.

Meanwhile, about 20 Polish soldiers who were encircled in a police station have now returned to base, according to a spokesman for the army chief of staff in Warsaw.

Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski also confirmed that Polish tanks had taken up positions in front of provincial buildings in the town.

US toll

A US soldier and a marine have also died in separate attacks in the western province of al-Anbar, the military confirmed.

The soldier died of wounds he received on Friday "while conducting security and stability operations", it said. No details were given on the marine's death.

The latest casualties bring the number of US soldiers that have died in Iraq since its invasion to 938. As many as 37,000 Iraqi civilians may have died in the same period.

Agencies
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US bombers strike Samarra
The United States military in Iraq says its warplanes have killed about 50 insurgents after dropping a series of 250 kilogram bombs on hideouts in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.

A US military statement said insurgents attacked US soldiers with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades during the clashes.

The city's main hospital and police said the bombing had left at least 13 Iraqis dead and 84 wounded, mostly women and children, and at least 43 buildings and homes destroyed, including police headquarters and the municipality.

It was unclear if this was separate from the US military toll of insurgents.

"This was part of an operation called Cajun Mousetrap III which was conducted to assist in the freedom of movement for Iraqi citizens and deny the enemy sanctuary in the surrounding area ... initial reports indicate that approximately 50 anti-Iraqi forces were killed," Captain Bill Coppernoll of the 1st Infantry Division told AFP.

He said the military sustained no casualties during the assault which started at midnight on Friday (local time) and lasted until the early hours of Saturday and included raids on suspected insurgent bases and weapons depots.

Troops detained three suspected weapons suppliers and seized six AK-47 assault rifles, mortar rounds and bomb making materials, according to Coppernoll.

Inside Samarra, which is a hotbed for Sunni Muslim militants, residents said US military vehicles and tanks closed in on the city from all directions.

Police said their headquarters were badly damaged and they lost three of their comrades during the assault.

The offices of the political party of Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib were also destroyed during the fighting, according to police.

Gutted vehicles lined the streets of the city, 125 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Samarra is the scene of frequent clashes between US troops and insurgents, and it has been largely off limits to Iraqi police and security forces who have restricted their presence to the outskirts of the city.

The latest strike came as US and other troops, along with Iraqi government forces, also battled Shiite militia in the south of the country.

Truce

A temporary truce, meanwhile, is in force in the Iraqi city of Najaf to allow negotiations on ending a bloody uprising by supporters of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

A defiant Sadr has called for the interim Government of the Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to resign.

Sadr's spokesman says the rebel cleric is prepared to pull his Shiite militia out of Najaf if US and Iraqi police also withdraw.

Iraqi Government Minister Kassim Dohd says the administration remains open-minded about the offer but negotiating with Sadr has not succeeded in the past.

"We would like to solve this problem in a very peaceful way but unfortunately sometimes we ask and put these issues as a temporary state and then he's changing them," he said.

Negotiations have been going on to bring an end to the fighting, but Sadr has roused his fighters with a speech in which he says he will defend Najaf's holy shrines until victory or martyrdom.

"I demand the US withdraw from Iraq, especially Najaf," he told worshippers inside the holy Imam Ali Shrine. "I demand the dictatorial Government resign because they are working with the Americans."
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