- Title: IRAQ: US FORCES CARRY OUT ARRESTS OF SUSPECT TERRORIST CELL NETWORKS IN TIKRIT.
- Date: 29th October 2003
- Summary: (W1) TIKRIT, IRAQ (OCTOBER 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. CU/NIGHT: SOLDIER HOLDING A GUN WHILE RIDING IN VEHICLE. (2 SHOTS) 0.04 2. SCU/NIGHT: VEHICLE WITH TASK FORCE TAKING A TURN. 0.08 3. MLV/NIGHT: HUMVEE PASSING NEAR A HOUSE (WITH SUSPECTED TERRORISTS INSIDE) 0.12 4. SCU/NIGHT: SOLDIERS CHECKING IDENTIFICATIONS. 0.18
- Embargoed: 13th November 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAAFSEHJ98T6ELO3YE3R94SZO15
- Story Text: U.S. forces have carried out arrests of suspected
terrorist cell networks in Saddam Hussein's hometown of
Tikrit.
United States (U.S.) forces carried out arrests in
Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, 175 km (120 miles)
north of the capital Baghdad late on Wednesday (October 29).
The forces were searching for what they call "terrorist
cell networks" and detained 10 suspects for questioning.
"We were targeting what we suspect were terrorist cell
network. A couple of potential cells beginning to form and
operate in Tikrit, planning attacks, conducting attacks on
coalition forces," said U.S. Colonel Steve Russell.
U.S. forces are carrying out raids in the area, in
search for former president Saddam Hussein and his
supporters.
Tikrit is near the apex of the "Sunni Triangle" north
and west of the capital where many of Saddam's fellow Sunni
Muslims, fearful of power going to the Shi'ite majority,
have opposed U.S. occupiers.
Soldiers have come under frequent attack in the area,
including at times almost nightly mortar attacks on the
American base known as Division Main.
U.S. military deaths from hostile fire in Iraq have
reached a grim landmark with the post-war toll surpassing
the numbers killed during the invasion itself.
The search for "Elvis" - the troops' nickname for
Saddam - and his cohorts goes on every day for the 4th
Infantry Division. Commanders are convinced Saddam may be
somewhere in or near his hometown, actively fomenting
attacks.
The job of finding him mostly belongs to the 1st
Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment - the 1-22 - which has
proved adept at pre-dawn raids that scoop up suspected
guerrillas as they sleep in their beds.
But the unit's soldiers also patrol Tikrit's streets
keeping an eye out for gunmen. That often means slow drives
in stripped down Humvees up and down Tikrit's "RPG alley" -
named for the rocket-propelled grenades used by Iraqi
attackers.
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