Iraqi, US forces brace for rescue bid

NEAR MADAEN - Hundreds of Iraqi forces took up positions around a town near Baghdad last night in preparation for an operation to rescue Shiite hostages whom Sunni insurgents have threatened to kill.

The troops armed with machine guns and assault rifles were moving in vehicles on the edge of the town of Madaen and United States troops had cut off two key bridges leading into the area.

A senior Shiite official said up to 150 hostages, including women and children, were being held. But a police official has said the number was far less and Iraq's al Qaeda wing said the hostage crisis had been fabricated to give Iraqi forces a pretext to raid the town and attack Sunni Muslims.

The Sunni insurgents have reportedly threatened to kill the hostages unless all Shiites leave the town.

Interim National Security Minister of State Kassim Daoud said earlier Madaen, near Baghdad and in an area dubbed the "Triangle of Death" because of the frequency of guerrilla attacks, was now under the control of Iraqi and US-led multinational forces. "They are raiding areas where it is suspected that hostages may be," he told Dubai-based al Arabiya television.

Iraq's state-run al Iraqiya television said the guerrillas had threatened to kill the hostages within 24 hours, and a senior Shiite official in Baghdad said Iraqi and US-led forces were expected to launch a major rescue bid.

"The number of hostages is 150. They include women and children, according to police intelligence officials I have spoken with," said the official, asking not to be named. "Iraqi and American forces surrounding the town plan a big raid to rescue them."

Arabiya TV reported the rescue operation had already begun but no independent confirmation was immediately available.

Earlier, officials said peaceful efforts to secure the release of the hostages, seized by guerrillas carrying rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s, had failed. The guerrillas had vowed to kill the hostages unless all Shiites left Madaen, 40km southeast of Baghdad. The insurgents had entered Madaen in 15 cars and witnesses said there were no police or Government forces around at the time.

The Shiite official in Baghdad said some of the hostages had been taken to two schools in the mixed Sunni and Shiite town and a mosque in the adjacent town of Salman Pak. "There are security problems in Madaen with tribal implications. Some people are trying to use it to create sectarian strife," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih.

The abductions were the latest in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings caused by growing antagonism between Sunnis and Shiites in the town.

The hostage-taking and a resurgence of violence will step up pressure on Iraq's new leaders to deliver on promises to improve security after January 30 national assembly elections. Some Iraqi officials say the inability of the new leaders to form a Government more than 11 weeks after the elections may be encouraging insurgents by creating an impression of weakness and indecision.

- REUTERS