US forces launch offensive on pro-Saddam holdouts

Facing an increasingly organized and violent resistance, the US Army stepped up pressure on pro-Saddam Hussein holdouts Sunday with a fourth large offensive in central Iraq.

At least four suspected loyalists were killed and big weapons caches were captured in the operation, called Ivy Serpent, which aims to blunt potential anti-American attacks ahead of now-banned holidays of Saddam's Baath Party.

On Monday, the military said a US soldier was killed and four were wounded in fighting in Baghdad. The soldiers were with the 3rd Infantry Division, which is charged with patrolling the capital, Baghdad, said Spc. Giovanni Llorente, a military spokesman.

The spokesman gave no details about the attack, and the names of the victims were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

However, there were several explosions along the al-Khadra Highway in western Baghdad early Monday, and an Associated Press photographer on the scene said witnesses reported US casualties. It was not clear if it was the same incident referred to by the military.

Meanwhile, the military announced that one soldier was killed and two others injured early Sunday when a tractor trailer crashed accidentally into their vehicle, parked at a checkpoint outside a base in Diwaniyah, 100 miles south of Baghdad. The names of the soldiers were withheld pending family notification.

Also Sunday, Iraqi police and coalition forces exchanged fire at a military checkpoint in Baghdad, witnesses said. They said a police vehicle drove up to a coalition checkpoint and started shooting, and US soldiers returned fire. It was not clear if there were casualties, and the US military had no immediate comment.

US forces also detained nine "high-value targets" in raids near Mosul, in northern Iraq, none of them on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis from Saddam's old regime.

Ivy Serpent, launched late Saturday in Sallahadin and Diala provinces, has so far yielded over 50 detainees in about a dozen raids before key holidays supported by Saddam loyalists. The four suspected anti-American militants were killed when they opened fire on Army scouts near Baqouba, military officials said.

The Army said insurgents planned a series of attacks against US soldiers to commemorate the July 14, 1958, overthrow of Iraq's King Faisal and the July 17, 1968, Baath Party coup.

"We want to get within the enemy's temple, disrupt his timing," said Col. David Hogg, commander of 4th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade.

The July 17 holiday was one of six banned Saturday in the first action of Iraq's new government council, which also named a national holiday marking Saddam's ouster.

Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned Sunday that attacks on US troops in Iraq may worsen this summer. "There's even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Baathists events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks," Rumsfeld said on NBC's "Meet the Press."