May 21, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18

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BAGHDAD, May 20: The United States army has launched several raids outside the capital to trap aides of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Tuesday.

US soldiers used helicopters and infantry during a search conducted at Tel Afer near Mosul in northern Iraq, and reportedly met with resistance.

Residents said US soldiers were looking for Izzet Ibrahim Al Douri, Saddam’s former deputy head of the Revolutionary Command, near Tel Afer. Initial attempts to confirm the raid were unavailing.

Al-Arabiya, an Arab news television station launched in Dubai as an alternative to Al Jazeera news televion, had reported on Saturday that Ibrahim, one of Saddam’s most loyal aides, had been arrested in Tel Afer. US Central Command confirmed 17 members of the former Iraqi regime were detained on Monday near Tikrit and in the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad.—dpa