AD-DAWR, Iraq, 16 May 2003 — Heavily armed US Army forces stormed into a village near the northern city of Tikrit before dawn yesterday, seizing about 260 prisoners, including one man on the United States’ “most-wanted” list of former Iraqi officials. He wasn’t immediately identified.
US troops encountered no resistance during the five-hour sweep, officers said. About 230 of those detained were being released, the military said.
Tikrit is Saddam Hussein’s hometown, and the region around it is known as a hotbed of Baath Party supporters and former high-ranking Iraqi military officials who enjoyed favored treatment under the now-deposed regime.
US officials said one of those arrested was on the “top 55” list but did not give the suspect’s name.
The US Central Command also announced the arrest of Fadil Mahmud Gharib, former Baath Party chairman of the Babil district. It said he was No. 47 on the most-wanted list, but the statement did not say when or where he was arrested and it did not appear that he was arrested in yesterday’s raid.
Five Iraqi special security forces officers were also caught — including two Iraqi Army generals and a general from Saddam’s security forces who had disguised himself as a shepherd.
“We’re going to continue to hunt them until they get so tired of running that they give themselves up or we catch them,” said Maj. Mike Silverman, operations officer for the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry, the Army division that staged the raid.
“I think it was very successful,” Silverman said. “We got one top-55 guy and about a dozen fairly bad guys off the street. And again we sent the message that we know the shadow regime is out there and it won’t be tolerated.”
Under military rules, the name of the village could not be released by reporters accompanying US forces until permission was given. US Central Command in Qatar had no immediate comment on the raid.
Commanders for the 1st Brigade had been planning the raid, dubbed “Operation Planet X,” for a week after receiving a tip the men were living in the area.
About 2 a.m. yesterday, US troops formed a cordon around the outer perimeter of a 9-block area. The military operation involved more than 500 soldiers, who sealed off the village and went from house to house. About 200 houses and outlying buildings were searched before the sweep ended at 7 a.m.
Silverman said no one shot at the US forces during the maneuver.
Among the 200 people taken into custody were some teenage boys and elderly men. Each was zip-cuffed — had their hands tied with plastic — and ordered to sit or kneel on the roads outside their homes. Many were kept in custody outside a large mansion with high walls.
