BAGHDAD, 19 December 2003 — A US soldier died and another was wounded in an ambush in Iraq, the US military said yesterday, despite a major US offensive to squeeze guerrillas after the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Faced with a tough American campaign against them, the guerrillas are escalating their attacks against Iraqi civilians and police, a top US military officer told reporters.
The latest killing of a US soldier took place in Baghdad’s Karkh district against a vehicle patrol at around 10:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) Wednesday, a US spokeswoman said. An Iraqi interpreter was also hurt, she added.
The assassinations of two Iraqi politicians triggered fears the bloodletting could spread. In the latest bout of the violence that has gripped Iraq since Saddam’s capture, an official of the largest group representing the country’s majority Shiites was killed after receiving death threats from Saddam supporters.
A representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said Muhannad Al-Hakim had been shot dead near his home in Baghdad’s Amil district. The SCIRI representative said an angry crowd in the southern city of Najaf had attacked and killed Ali Al-Zalimi, an official of Saddam’s Baath party who played a role in crushing an uprising by Shiites after the 1991 Gulf War.
Despite the bloodshed, the mood in Baghdad seemed upbeat as people rejoiced at Saddam’s capture.
A giant photo of the fallen dictator getting a jail visit from Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi graced the front page of a Baghdad newspaper yesterday.
The photo, spread across the front page of Al-Mutamar, the official paper of Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress, sold out in record time as Iraqis hungered for the latest news about Saddam, their former tormentor who now rests behind bars.
The chief of the US Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, gave the brightest assessment yet by a senior commander of the impact of Saddam’s capture on Saturday.
He said that using intelligence gained in part as a result, US forces had mounted a “full court press” to capture mid-level leaders of the former Iraqi regime who are believed to be key to the insurgency in Iraq.
US troops meanwhile pressed on with a massive operation aimed at rooting out anti-coalition elements in the flashpoint city of Samarra, 125 kilometers from Baghdad. So far, they have killed two people and captured 86 others in the offensive in a city where the military says reconstruction efforts have been hampered by insurgent activity.
Of the 86 people detained since Operation Ivy Blizzard was launched at 2:00 a.m. Wednesday (2300 GMT Tuesday), 12 had been wanted for anti-coalition activities.
But US commanders and senior Pentagon officials have warned they expect more violence in the wake of the capture of Saddam.
And a top US general said insurgent attacks on Iraqi civilians and security forces have been increasing even as the number against US forces decreases.
“Over the past month the number of attacks on coalition forces remains lower than in previous months although enemy attacks on Iraqi security services and civilians are increasing,” Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told a news conference.
