U.S. Forces Swoop on Homes in Baghdad

RAMADI, Iraq —  Led by informants, U.S. soldiers swept into homes in Baghdad and several outlying towns Monday in pursuit of suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists who have been ambushing American forces. Dozens of Iraqis were detained, most taken away blindfolded and handcuffed.

The soldiers also dug up backyards in a search for heavy arms, but the U.S. military announced no major weapons discoveries.

The sweeps came a day after 10 Americans were wounded in rocket-propelled grenade attacks on two convoys despite a new U.S. campaign to put down resistance across Iraq’s central Sunni heartland, where Hussein’s support was strongest.

In the first ambush Sunday, a grenade set fire to a civilian bus that was passing a military convoy near the town of Mashahidah, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, seriously injuring two soldiers and lightly wounding six others.

The second attack hit a U.S. convoy in Dujayl, 35 miles north of Baghdad, lightly wounding two soldiers, Army spokesman Capt. John Morgan said.

Qusai Taha, 33, a grocery store owner from Dujayl, said he heard gunfire, ran outside and saw that the last vehicle in a 15-vehicle U.S. convoy had been hit. He said he saw two U.S. soldiers being taken out of the truck, apparently wounded.

Later, Taha said, two Iraqis arrived on a motorbike and set the truck ablaze.

The U.S. Central Command blamed the ambushes on hard-core loyalists of the ousted regime who “continue to put innocent civilians at risk.”

Monday’s raids were part of Operation Desert Scorpion, a new nationwide campaign to root out arms and militants.

Troops from the Army’s 1st Armored Division arrested 44 people, including three suspects in a June 1 grenade attack on U.S. soldiers guarding the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad. During a raid Monday night, troops took 31 more Iraqis prisoner outside the mosque and at an outdoor cafe.

Raids were also conducted in the Ramadi area, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, and in Khaldiyah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, several people were killed and wounded in explosions in the capital Monday.

In central Baghdad, a civilian car driving through a tunnel was destroyed in a blast that U.S. troops and Iraqi police said was probably caused by a land mine. Two Iraqis were wounded. U.S. troops said American convoys drive through the tunnel several times a day.

Several hours later, a civilian car exploded in a neighborhood of northwest Baghdad, killing a woman and a girl, residents said. It was unclear what caused that blast.