US-led forces in huge offensive near Baghdad

The operation on Tuesday came as world powers and Middle Eastern states meeting in Egypt threw their weight behind the war-torn country's first free and multi-party elections in decades.

US marines and a so-called Iraqi SWAT team "swept through the south-central Iraqi town of Jabella, kicking off a fresh campaign in northern Babil province," the US military said in a statement.

The offensive, dubbed Operation Plymouth Rock, involved more than 5,000 Iraqi, US and British forces and follows the seizure of Falluja, the statement said.

"As the Iraqi people prepare to vote in nationwide elections in January, multinational forces are determined to capture or kill those who desire to destabilise the elections process," the military said.

Joint operation

The joint operation resulted in the seizure of 32 suspected fighters, the military said. Jabella is 80 km south of Baghdad.

The military said US and Iraqi forces continued rounding up suspected fighters in house-to-house searches and vehicle checkpoints. In the past three weeks, Iraqi troops and US marines have detained nearly 250 suspects, the statement said.

They have been aided by British forces from the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch Regiment, which was brought into the area from southern Basra to aid American forces in closing off escape routes for fighters between Baghdad, Babil province to the south and Anbar province to the west.

It would be the third major military offensive against fighters opposed to the US-led government since the massive Falluja operation, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 US soldiers and injured more than 400.

Close to the northern city of Kirkuk US and Iraqi forces on Tuesday rounded up dozens of suspected fighters in a pre-dawn raid and seized automatic weapons, ammunition and communications equipment, the US military said.

Detention

Kirkuk's local government on Tuesday also publicised the capture in recent days of five leading fighters including the brother-in-law of Saddam Hussein's chief deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri.

The governor's office said Omar Ali al-Sufyan, also known as Abu Sufyan, had been arrested by US forces on 28 October. He is suspected of sponsoring resistance attacks. In detainee photos posted by the Iraqi authorities, the portly and moustached al-Sufyan was seen wearing a blue shirt.

Killed

Meanwhile, two
Iraqi children were killed on Tuesday when mortar bombs landed on houses near a US military base in al-Muallimin neighbourhood in central Samara city, medical sources told Aljazeera.

A number of soldiers were injured and their Hummer was destroyed when an explosive device detonated on the outskirts of Samara.

In a separate incident, two fighters were killed and a third injured when an explosive device, they were attempting to plant, detonated in al-Jubairia district southeast of Samarra city.

Another fighter was killed when an explosive device detonated as he was attempting to plant it on a road in Biji, northeast of Baghdad, Aljazeera reported.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has announced the deaths of five more US marines near Falluja, where US-led forces are winding down a major assault on the city.

A US soldier was also killed in northern Iraq, although details of the deaths have not yet been released.

The latest casualties bring the US troop toll to more than 1221 since the March 2003 invasion.

Aljazeera + Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3519CAA9-46D7-473E-BA2E-CA49785E5D41.htm