US detains 180 in Iraq raids, blast kills looters

8.30am

BAGHDAD - US forces detained 180 people in raids to stamp out resistance to their occupation in Iraq, the military said today, as local residents reported a huge weekend blast at an arms depot killed at least 30 looters.

Scores of people were hurt in the explosion at a munitions store in a desert area 260km northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, residents said, adding that US forces arrested several looters afterwards and handed them to Iraqi police.

US forces are trying to crack down on a massive upsurge in general crime, including widespread looting, which followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein on April 9.

They are also battling threats to their own troops, who have come under attack almost daily in recent weeks.

US officers blame Saddam loyalists, but Iraqis say some attackers are not linked to the ousted leader and simply oppose occupation, believing the invading troops have not respected them or provided basic services and security.

"We are concerned about the level of violence but at the same time we are confident (that) with our security forces and with our military forces and with the rebuilding of Iraqi infrastructure, especially the Iraqi police force, we can bring this under control," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told ABC television.

Assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade on Sunday night at an army patrol in the town of Falluja, about 50km west of Baghdad, wounding a journalist attached to a military unit, US Central Command said in a statement.

Three people were killed soon afterwards when their pickup truck drove into a military vehicle helping to evacuate the reporter from the area, the statement said. It did not identify the journalist, now in a stable condition, or the dead.

At least 22 US and six British soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since US President George W Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1.

The US military, which has about 156,000 soldiers in Iraq, has launched several operations to stamp out attacks. The latest, Operation Desert Sidewinder, began on Sunday with infantry soldiers backed by aircraft and armoured vehicles.

Troops from the US Army's high-tech Fourth Infantry Division detained 32 people and seized weapons including 10 AK- 47 rifles and a mortar in the mission, which targeted areas north and east of Baghdad, once a bedrock of support for Saddam.

The arms haul appeared meagre in a country where most homes have at least one weapon. The area was quiet on Monday.

Troops from the First Armoured Division detained 148 people in Baghdad as part of Operation Desert Scorpion, another mission aimed at stopping attacks.

Amnesty International expressed concern at the treatment of detainees in Iraq and called for an end to a ban on them receiving visitors and consulting lawyers.

After Saddam's downfall Iraq descended into an orgy of looting which continues, though on a lower level.

Residents of the Haditha area of Saturday's explosion said the victims had been scavenging in the abandoned Iraqi army depot for artillery shell casings that could be sold as scrap metal.

"These people are illiterate. They don't know anything about weapons. Their only concern is making illegitimate earnings," Haditha resident Ibrahim Hussein told Reuters by telephone.

"This is how these people should end up."

It was a measure of the chaos still plaguing Iraq despite the presence of a US-led administration and US troops that news of the blast only reached Baghdad today.

The administration is still feeling its way in Iraqi politics. Today it sacked the interim governor in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf and arrested him on charges including kidnapping, holding hostages and stealing state funds.

Abu Haydar Abdul Mun'im had been appointed by a US military commander to run Najaf, about 150km south of Baghdad.

Another 61 people in his entourage including bodyguards were also detained although a number of them are expected to be released, an administration spokesman said.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq