 |
|
Fourth
Infantry Division soldiers from the 1st Battalion 68th Armor Task
Force detain and put sandbags over the heads of one of the men of
the village of Mashahdah
|
BAGHDAD,
July 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.S. army has
launched a major new offensive, Operation Ivy Serpent, in the heartland
of resistance against its soldiers in central Iraq during which 4 Iraqis
were killed and more than 50 arrested, a military spokesman said.
The
army's Fourth Infantry Division is "focused on neutralizing Baath
party paramilitaries and other subversive elements," said Corporal
Todd Pruden, located just south of Tikrit, the hometown of deposed
dictator Saddam Hussein according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Operation
Ivy Serpent "is a preemptive strike on former regime leaders and
non-compliant elements planning attacks on coalition forces,"
Pruden said.
The
army is conducting its aggressive campaign along highway one north of
Baghdad around the towns of Bayji, Huwayiah and Samarra, AFP said.
The
U.S. forces have already launched Operation Peninsula Strike, Operation
Desert Scorpion and Operation Desert Sidewinder under the pretext of
"crushing the remnants of Saddam's hardened intelligence and
security services".
The
‘Desert Sidewinder Operation’ included more than 20 simultaneous
raids involving aircraft, armored vehicles and infantry in an area north
of the capital, Baghdad, along the River Tigris.
It
came on the heels of Operation Desert Scorpion
launched on June 15 to root out the guerrilla fighters who have now
killed 31 U.S. soldiers since U.S. President George W. Bush declared
victory in the Iraq invasion on May 1.
The
officials say the anti-U.S. attacks will be timed with upcoming holidays
that mark major events in the history of Saddam's Baath Party.
The
Army's 4th Infantry Division launched operation "Ivy Serpent"
Saturday, July 12, night with a series of raids on suspected pro-Saddam
holdouts, sweeping illegal weapons markets in the Baqouba and Balad on
the Tigris River north of the capital and setting up checkpoints.
U.S.
officials said two homes used to produce anti-U.S. propaganda were
raided and that American forces came under rocket-propelled grenade and
rifle fire in a sweep through seven locations in Diala Province,
northeast of Baghdad.
They
added the U.S. forces captured three wanted men - a former Fedayeen
general, a former Iraqi air force general and the second in charge of
the Baath party in Diala Province. Their names were not given to press.
The
three previous anti-insurgency operations - Peninsula Strike, Desert
Scorpion and Sidewinder - yielded mixed results.
Hundreds
of suspects were detained, but many were released for lack of evidence.
Numerous large weapons caches were discovered, but the attacks against
Americans continued.
Click
here
to see the pictures of the U.S. Ivy
Serpent offensive
