June 29, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424

BAGHDAD, June 28: US-led forces have detained more than 900 former loyalists of the Saddam Hussein government who have been “subverting” US efforts to rebuild Iraq, a senior US military official said on Saturday.

“In the last week, we have detained more than 900 former regime loyalists, former Fedayeen and other criminals that are out there subverting our efforts,” said the official.

He said some of those arrested had been released, but did not specify how many were still being held.

“Under Operation Desert Scorpion, we continue to conduct raids as we get intelligence to be able to take down these subversive elements that remain,” he added.

“On the high value targets we are steadily collecting the 55 key regime figures with over 30 collected so far,” he said, adding: “There is no doubt in my mind that we will be able to pick up the remainder.”

“Every single day we’re attacking the former regime leadership and the Baathists ... but the single most important thing would be for us to get at the top regime leadership,” the military official said.

“That will lend a tremendous amount of stability to this country. We continue to aggressively pursue them,” he added, while declining to say how close the military was to achieving the aim of netting key remaining regime figures.

The US forces launched the Desert Scorpion operation on June 15 to root out armed resistance from the former regime, announcing two days later that the campaign had netted over 350 people in the Baghdad area and northern Iraq.

The official conceded that US forces were taking casualties but insisted the operation would continue.

“We are suffering casualties ... the war hasn’t ended ... but these casualties that we are encountering are not causing us to falter in any way.”

Western forces in Iraq have been suffering almost daily casualties in recent days, with many Iraqis making no secret of their wish to see the occupying troops leave the country as soon as possible.

But the official said: “I think we’re gaining their trust every day when we’re out there helping them improve their quality of life.”

Parallel to attacks on US and British forces, two Iraqis were killed this week apparently for cooperating with the US-led authorities.

“We are beginning to detect a pattern of Iraqi on Iraqi violence especially aimed at intimidating those Iraqis who are improving the quality of life for the average Iraqi,” the official said, adding: “We need to put an end to it.”

But he dismissed the notion that attacks either on Iraqis or on coalition forces were being centrally coordinated.

“There’s a group out there with a common agenda — that is to disrupt coalition efforts and kill coalition soldiers,” he said, while describing them as working in “fragmented, small cells”.

SCHOOL Books BURNT: A fire on Saturday swept through a Baghdad warehouse where school books were being stored, with a US soldier saying looters may have set the blaze.

The soldier said the fire had started around midday, and an eyewitness at the scene saw thick smoke still billowing from the site around one hour later.

US troops caught two young Iraqis trying to escape from the building and handed them over to Iraqi police, the soldier said. Fire crews were called to tackle the blaze.

It was not known if the warehouse contained new school books that the US-led authorities are currently printing to replace text books that included references to Saddam Hussein and his government.

The US-led authority has admitted it is suffering political sabotage by remnants of the toppled Baath party, while looters continue to sift through the wreckage of abandoned buildings, often starting fires as they leave.—AFP