U.S. troops continue raids, capture guerrilla leader

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The 4th Infantry Division snared a leader of the guerrilla insurgency and 78 other people Tuesday in a raid north of Baghdad, not far from where Saddam Hussein was captured three days earlier.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, said in Baghdad on Tuesday that military planners were preparing for American troops to stay in Iraq for up to two more years despite capturing the former Iraqi leader.

The raid in the village of Abu Safa, near Samarra and about 60 miles north of Baghdad, began late Monday after insurgents in Samarra ambushed U.S. forces. The U.S. military said its troops killed 11 of the attackers who released a flock of pigeons to signal one another that the American patrol was in range. No Americans were hurt.

By early Tuesday, U.S. troops arrested Qais Hattam, the No. 5 fugitive on the 4th Infantry's list of "high-value targets," said Capt. Gaven Gregory of the division's 3rd Brigade. The guerrilla leader was described as a major financier of insurgents who have been fighting the U.S.-led coalition for months.

Maj. Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division, said all those captured in the raid were in one room and apparently conducting a meeting to plan future attacks.

She said U.S. forces also seized a substantial weapons cache.

"We got a significant amount of ammunition and weapons, perfect material for making IEDs," or roadside bombs, Aberle told CNN.

Hattam is not on the U.S. list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis. Thirteen fugitives from that list remain at large.

Myers, in a visit to Iraq to meet with American troops and top U.S. officials, said Pentagon planners were focusing on a U.S. military presence for the next year or two.

"About as far as we're looking is through the next couple of years," Myers said during a stop at Baghdad International Airport. "Beyond that, I don't think we can make any guesses. It's going to have to depend on events on the ground, how transition to Iraqi sovereignty goes" and how quickly a new Iraqi army is organized. A stable Iraq is the key, the general said.

On Tuesday, a roadside bomb wounded three American soldiers in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. A pro-Saddam demonstration in the northern city of Mosul ended in violence, with a policeman killed and a second injured.