America Frees 42 Al Qaeda Captives

BAGHDAD (AP) – American forces raided an Al Qaeda hide-out northeast of Baghdad on Sunday and freed 42 Iraqis imprisoned inside, including some who had been tortured and suffered broken bones, a senior American military official said Sunday.The raid was part of a 3-month-old security crackdown that included the deployment of 3,000 more American troops to Diyala, a violent province north of the capital that has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks, said Major General William Caldwell, the top American military spokesman in Iraq.General Caldwell said Iraqis told American forces about the hide-out: “The people in Diyala are speaking up against Al Qaeda.”He said the 42 freed Iraqis marked the largest number of captives ever found in a single Al Qaeda prison. Some of those freed were held for as long as four months and some had injuries from torture and were taken to medical facilities for treatment, he said.Two American soldiers were killed when explosions hit their patrols this weekend – one in Diyala and one in western Baghdad, the military reported Sunday.Also Sunday, American and Iraqi troops raided Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, targeting Shiite insurgent cells there for a second day and arresting a suspect believed involved in smuggling armor piercing bombs from Iran, the military said. The cell has also sent Iraqi militants to Iran for training, the statement said.During another raid in Sadr City, troops shot an approaching vehicle that ignored signals to stop, the military said. No one was injured in the shooting, but the vehicle was set ablaze, the military said.AP Television News footage showed several cars burned in the street, including a van that was scorched black, had its windows knocked out and its upholstery incinerated. The footage also showed a house that appeared to have been ransacked.Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric who emerged from months in hiding last week, met Sunday in Najaf with leaders of his movement to discuss Iraq’s security and political situation, said Salah al-Obeidi, a senior aide to al-Sadr.“The occupation forces bear responsibility for the suffering the country is facing and there is no solution but the withdrawal of the forces,” said Mr. al-Obeidi, echoing demands al-Sadr made in the sermon he delivered after reappearing Friday.Mr. al-Sadr’s Shiite Mahdi Army militia has repeatedly battled with American and British troops in the streets of Sadr City and Basra, where British troops killed one of the cleric’s commanders in a gunfight Friday.After two days of pitched fighting with the Shiite militants, the British carried out an arrest raid early Sunday. During the raid, their forces were attacked with roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire, the British said. The troops returned fire, killing three of their attackers and arresting four militants. No British forces were injured.Meanwhile, in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned Sunday morning and handed over their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi Army militants, police said.On Sunday, gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing one person and injuring eight, police said. The gunmen later ambushed a minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six passengers, police said.In other violence, gunmen shot up the car of Lieutenant Colonel Hiyis al-Jubouri, a police commander in the northern Salahuddin province, killing him and another police officer, police said.Gunmen also attacked a group of farmers in the al-Nahrawan district, 10 miles east of Baghdad, killing two and injuring nine, police said.The American military also reported late Saturday the deaths of eight U.S. troops, bringing the number of soldiers killed so far this month to at least 100 and putting May on pace to become the deadliest month for U.S. troops here in more than 2 1/2 years.On Monday, Iranian and American diplomats were scheduled to hold rare talks in Baghdad over how to end the violence in Iraq. American officials accuse Shiite-ruled Iran of training, financing and arming militants here, in a bid to fan sectarian tensions. Iran denies that and blames the presence of American forces here for the violence.___AP Military Writer Robert Burns contributed to this story from Washington.

America Frees 42 Al Qaeda Captives

America Frees 42 Al Qaeda Captives

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