US forces free 41 Iraqi captives after raid on insurgent hideout

Baghdad: US forces raided an Al Qaida hide-out northeast of Baghdad yesterday and freed 41 Iraqis imprisoned inside, including some who had been tortured and suffered broken bones, a senior US military official said.

The raid was part of a 3-month-old security crackdown that included the deployment of 3,000 more US troops to Diyala, a violence-wracked province north of the capital that has been the site of heavy fighting in recent weeks, said Maj Gen William Caldwell, the top US military spokesman in Iraq.

Caldwell said Iraqis told US forces about the hide-out. "The people in Diyala are speaking up against Al Qaida," he said.

Caldwell refused to disclose the location of the hide-out, citing security concerns, but said the 41 freed Iraqis marked the largest number of captives ever found in a single Al Qaida prison.

Some of the freed Iraqis had been held for as long as four months and some had injuries from torture and were being taken to medical facilities for treatment, he said.

Also yesterday, US and Iraqi troops raided Sadr City, targeting Shiite insurgent cells in the Baghdad slum for a second day, while British forces stepped up pressure on Shiite militants in the southern city of Basra, killing three in an overnight operation.

Meanwhile, in Kut, 160km southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned yesterday morning and handed over their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mehdi Army militants, police said.

The US military also reported late Saturday the deaths of eight US troops, bringing the number of soldiers killed so far this month to at least 100.