U.S. Marines raided houses Monday on the second day of an offensive in several cities west of Baghdad. In Ramadi, U.S. Marines fanned out across the city, setting up checkpoints, searching cars and sealing off sections of the city to prevent people from entering or leaving as they carried out raids. Iraqi Maj. Abdul Karim al-Faraji said troops detained a prominent Sunni sheikh, Mohammed Nasir Ali al-Ijbie, who heads the al-Bufaraj tribe, along with 12 of his relatives.
Meanwhile, six blasts boomed through Baghdad before midday. The cause of the explosions was not immediately known. Footage from Associated Press Television News showed U.S. troops treating an American soldier apparently injured in one of the blasts, which overturned a Humvee in the southern Doura neighborhood.
An Iraqi group announced the release of two kidnapped Indonesian journalists missing since last week in a video delivered to Associated Press Television News. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the two had been freed.
On the political level, talks between Shiite leaders to pick Iraq's next prime minister resumed after a break for the religious festival of Ashura. Ibrahim Jaafari, Iraqi vice president and leader of Iraq's oldest Shiite party, Dawa, is widely expected to get the job, while secular politician Ahmed Chalabi is seen as an outside candidate.
