BAGHDAD, 7 August 2003 — US forces said yesterday they arrested 19 suspected members of the anti-US resistance and killed another, and found a huge stockpile of weapons in a series of raids in northern Iraq. But the big prize — Saddam Hussein — remained elusive.
Iraq’s postwar recovery continued: In Baghdad, the US-installed governing council asked for US help in creating desperately needed jobs, while to the south in Diwaniyah, Spanish soldiers began setting up a base for troops from Spain and four Latin American countries to replace US forces heading home. For the fifth straight day, no US personnel were reported killed in attacks.
The US military announced the arrest of a man it said was organizing guerrilla attacks against American soldiers. The man, nabbed Sunday by Iraqi police officers, was the brother of a Saddam bodyguard captured by US forces on July 29, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell of the 4th Infantry Division. Russell said he was the brother of Adnan Abdullah Abid Al-Musslit, who was believed to have detailed knowledge of Saddam’s hiding places.
Eighteen other suspected guerrillas were arrested in seven overnight raids across northcentral Iraq, Maj. Josslyn Aberle said.
She also said soldiers uncovered a large weapons cache 40 kilometers northeast of Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, on Sunday. It included two 7-meter-long (20-foot) missiles, 3,000 mortar rounds, 250 anti-tank rockets and almost 2,000 artillery rounds.
