A file photo showing the firing of a satellite-guided missile used in Ivy Cyclone II (AFP)

BAGHDAD, November 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. occupation troops in Iraq started on Sunday, November 16, a more aggressive offensive to hunt down Iraqi resistance fighters, while U.S. overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer reiterated that the U.S. troops would not be forced out of the country.

Marking the launch of Operation Ivy Cyclone II, U.S. occupation forces used for the first time since the end of "major combat" in Iraq a satellite-guided missile at a site of suspected resistance fighters in north-central Iraq, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"An Army Tactical Missile System (ATACS) ... was fired at noon today at a former regime training area," 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Kirkuk, said Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald, adding: "We are getting more aggressive."

"It is the first time since the end of major combat that munition of this type has been utilized," said MacDonald.

He said the weapon hit the target, but it was not immediately clear whether there were casualties.

"It was a pretty substantial training facility, there was former regime leadership in there, probably mid-level people, some involved in financing anti-coalition attacks," he said.

The harsher U.S. tactics came a day after 17 U.S. soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a collision between two Black Hawk helicopters.

MacDonald said the missile was fired by the Tikrit-based Task Force Ironhorse, predominantly comprised of members of the U.S. army's 4th Infantry Division.

Ivy Cyclone II is the latest in a series of offensives by U.S. forces in northern and central Iraq.

The first Operation Ivy Cyclone was launched after the downing of a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter near Tikrit on November 7, killing all six on board.

Among the sweeping operations are Operation Peninsula Strike, Operation Desert Scorpion, Operation Ivy Serpent, Desert Sidewinder Operation.

In Baghdad, the 1st Armored Division pursued Operation Iron Hammer air and ground offensive, targeting Iraqis said to be Saddam supporters.

Over the weekend, the U.S. occupation forces called in air strikes around Fallujah, a bastion of the resistance, and deposed president Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, marking the first such bombardments since the six-week springtime war.

More Suspects Arrested

Terrified Iraqi children taken out of their home during a pre-dawn U.S. raid

Separately, U.S. forces arrested 35 people thought linked to a deadly rocket attack on the landmark Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, where U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had been staying.

The capture of the 35 suspects showcased the military's new strategy of sending out Iraqi operatives to catch "Saddam loyalists" and foreign fighters.

"After the Rashid attack, intelligence became one of our priorities," a senior military officer told AFP of the rocket attack which killed a U.S. colonel and wounded 17 others.

He said that the military had found a welding shop in the capital's upmarket Mansur district, where they found pieces of metal painted the same royal blue colour as the rocket launcher, and the shop's walls.

Iraqi informants identified members of an alleged cell in Mansur, and one was given a camera and detailed to carry out surveillance on their homes.

The top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, Let. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said on November 11 that the occupation forces were holding more than 5,000 people in its detention centers across the country.

No Withdrawal

Meanwhile, Washington's top man in Iraq said Sunday that U.S.-led occupation forces would remain in Iraq even after a handover of power to an elected Iraqi government next year.

"We're not going to cut and run. We're here to get the job done and will stay until the job is done," Bremer told Fox News in an interview from Baghdad.

"The new Iraqi government and we are going to negotiate an agreement that will provide for our continued presence in Iraq to help them stabilize their country and to help them stay at peace with their neighbors," he said. "They have some pretty rough neighbors."

Bremer declined to provide a time-frame for U.S. troops staying on beyond a handover of power but said "they're going to need our assistance, I think, for some time."

He further warned Sunday that terrorism looked set to jump in Iraq as several hundred "professional terrorists" slipped into the country with attacks hitting a daily average of 30.

Bremer's statements were echoed by top U.S. officials before, who were adamant that the surge in violence would not force the U.S. to pull out its troops of the chaos-mired country. 

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said Sunday that the handover of power to Iraqis would have no effect on U.S. military presence in the country.

Secretary of State Colin Powell further said earlier in the month that the U.S. troops would not "run" from Iraq.

President George W. Bush on Sunday welcomed the new blueprint for returning power to an Iraqi government by June of next year.

"The Iraqi Governing Council has laid out a timetable for the transfer of sovereignty," Bush told reporters at the White House. "We're pleased with that timetable, we think it makes sense."

Under an agreement between Bremer and the U.S.-selected Iraqi Governing Council unveiled over the weekend, a provisional Iraqi government is to be formed by June 2003, named by a transitional assembly to be elected by the end of May 2003.

The scope and structure of the sovereign transitional administration will be defined by a law to be drafted by the Governing Council and approved by the so-called "Coalition Provisional Authority" by February 2004.

The number of U.S. troops to remain following a June 30, 2004 handover of power by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority would depend on the security situation, Bush explained.

"It depends on what's taking place on the ground," he said. "Politics is going to go forward. The political process will move on. And we'll adjust our troop level according to the security situation in Iraq."