Iraqi, U.S. troops capture scores of insurgents

LATIFIYAH, Iraq -- Iraqi soldiers took the lead Saturday in a sweep with U.S. forces of farmsteads and fields in an area south of Baghdad known for its deadly insurgent attacks and called the Triangle of Death. The Iraqis stood up well in blistering heat that neared 110 degrees, but a commander balked at sending his men into a particularly dangerous area, forcing the U.S. soldiers to conduct follow-up missions.

The hundreds-strong joint force, backed by American air power, rounded up at least 108 Iraqis suspected of involvement in the brutal campaign of insurgent suicide attacks designed to topple the Shiite-led government.

Also Saturday, Marines said they discovered 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a huge underground insurgent bunker complex west of the capital fitted out with air conditioning, a kitchen and showers.

The U.S.-Iraqi offensive in Latifiyah, 20 miles south of the capital, was part of Operation Lightning, a massive, week-old crackdown aimed at crushing the insurgency in the Baghdad region and sapping militants' strength nationwide.

The operation was under close scrutiny as a bellwether of the Iraqis' ability to take control of their own security, a key part of the U.S. exit strategy from the country more than two years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.

While the sweep though the semi-rural Latifiyah area put Iraqi forces in the forefront, it was clear the U.S. military was still the driving force.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said at least 700 suspected insurgents were rounded up in Operation Lightning so far, and at least 28 militants were killed. U.S. Lt. Col. Michael Infanti said at least 221 people had been detained since last Wednesday by forces carrying out a sweep of Baghdad's southern districts. It was unclear if that number was in addition to the 700 figure listed by Jabr.

The U.S. soldiers in the Latifiyah raid said some of the Iraqi troops were new Ministry of Public Order forces and were participating in their first major operation. A variety of vehicles were in use, from new sports utility vehicles to freight trucks.

The important weapons and bunker complex discovery west of the capital was announced by the 2nd Marine division, which said the find included a huge and recently used "insurgent lair" in a massive underground bunker complex that included air-conditioned living quarters and high tech military equipment, including night vision goggles.

That bunker, the largest of the 50, was found cut from a rock quarry in Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad. The Marines said the facility was 170 yards wide and 275 yards long. The important discoveries in the drive to crush the insurgency were all made by forces acting on information from captured militants or tips from local residents, the military said.

In the rooms were "four fully furnished living spaces, a kitchen with fresh food, two shower facilities and a working air conditioner. Other rooms within the complex were filled with weapons and ammunition," the announcement said.

The weapons included "numerous types of machine guns, ordnance, including mortars, rockets and artillery rounds, black uniforms, ski masks, compasses, log books, night vision goggles, and fully charged cell phones."

Also Saturday, an Iraqi believed to be a top terror leader in northern Iraq also was captured by U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul, and Iraqi Lt. Col. Abu Fahad Alkhasali said 19 suspected insurgents -- including a Jordanian and a Syrian -- were arrested in raids in Baghdad's western Abu Ghraib district.

Terror suspect Mullah Mahdi, was detained with his brother, three other Iraqis and a non-Iraqi Arab national who was not otherwise identified after a brief clash in eastern Mosul, Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed al-Obeidi said.

Mahdi was affiliated with the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, one of Iraq's most feared terror groups, and had links to the Syrian intelligence service, al-Obeidi said without elaborating. Iraqi and U.S. officials have accused Syria of facilitating the insurgency by allowing foreign fighters to cross its borders, but Damascus denies the allegation.

Mahdi was wanted in connection with car bombs, assassinations "beheadings of Iraqi policemen and soldiers and for launching attacks against multinational forces" in Mosul, al-Obeidi said.

In addition, a suicide car bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police checkpoint just after dark on a main road connecting northern Mosul with the nearby city of Tal Afar, killing two officers and wounding four. Four others were hurt in a roadside bombing as they went to help their fallen colleagues, Mosul police Lt. Zaid Ahmed Shakir said.