- Title: IRAQ: U.S. TROOPS ARREST TWO SUSPECTED FEDAYEEN FINANCIERS
- Date: 25th September 2003
- Summary: (W1) TIKRIT, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 24, 2003) (REUTERS) NIGHTVISION SHOTS: 1. AV U.S. ATTACK HELICOPTERS FLYING OVERHEAD (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. MV U.S. TROOPS AT SUSPECTED FEDAYEEN FINANCIER SUSPECTS' DEN; MV SUSPECTED FEDAYEEN FINANCIER ON FLOOR FACING WALL (4 SHOTS) 0.30 3. MV OTHER SUSPECTED FEDAYEEN FINANCIER BEING COVERED BY U.S TROOPS; SUSPECTED FEDAYEEN FINANCIER ON FLOOR WITH HANDS TIED BEHIND BACK (4 SHOTS) 0.49 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR MIKE RAUHUT FROM FIRST BATTALION, 22ND INFANTRY REGIMENT SAYING "They're kind of the middle men, they help organise, they provide the money to buy ammunition, weapons, and put those things in the hands of people that will carry out those attacks and then pay the attackers to conduct the attacks." 1.01 5. MV U.S SOLDIER ON GUARD (2 SHOTS) 1.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th October 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAA0OK7A4R3MW145TTAPO1EIK60
- Story Text: US troops have arrested two suspected Fedayeen
financiers in downtown Tikrit.
U.S. troops raided four wealthy homes in Saddam
Hussein's hometown on Thursday in a bid to choke off
financing of a string of attacks in northern Iraq including
sabotage efforts against a vital oil export pipeline.
In the pre-dawn raids, two suspects described as
"mid-level financiers or money men" were detained, officers
told reporters present at the search-and-seizure raids.
Two other suspects were absent from their homes when
troops, backed by armoured cars and helicopters overhead,
descended on the four locations in the dead of night in
downtown Tikrit.
The Fedayeen are militia loyal to Saddam who have been
blamed for attacks on U.S. troops. The U.S. military said
it had arrested another financier on Wednesday.
The 27,000-strong 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment of the
4th Infantry Division, is responsible for security in three
volatile provinces north of Baghdad which take in Tikrit,
where Saddam Hussein is suspected of going to ground after
U.S. troops advanced on Baghdad in April, Iraq's second
largest city Mosul and the oil town of Kirkuk.
In a sign of stepped up activity, the U.S. military
announced on Wednesday troops killed nine Iraqi rebels in a
string of clashes around Tikrit - the biggest 24-hour
casualty toll in Saddam's former stronghold for a month.
Acting on tip-offs from Iraqi informants and
surveillance from the air and ground, U.S. troops hope the
raids will break the back of resistance to American
occupation.
In recent days U.S. troops have started to zero in on
the "middle men" who U.S. sources say sometimes have up to
one million dollars to call on, often buried in backyards.
"They help to provide the money to buy ammunition, the
weapons to put in the hands of those people that will carry
out the attacks and they also pay off the attackers," Major
Mike Rauhut, executive officer of the 1st Battalion said.
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