Overnight raids by American and Iraqi forces on the Iraqi city of Samarra killed at least 80 people, a hospital official said on Friday.
Doctor Abdel Hamid Abed said at least 100 people were injured, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Army said American and Iraqi forces took control of government and police buildings in Samarra early on Friday after "insurgents had undermined security in the city."
The latest offensive came in response to “repeated and unprovoked attacks by anti-Iraqi forces against Iraqi and coalition forces," the military added.
A report by CNN said 2,000 anti-US fighters were believed to be holed up in the city, located some 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, and that tanks and jets were being used as troops took the city “sector by sector.”
Meanwhile, at least nine members of Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army and three civilians were killed Friday during clashes with US troops in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, according to Sadr's movement and medical sources. At the local hospital, three wounded civilians were brought in, said Dr. Jabbar Sulak.
Elsewhere, four Iraqi policemen and four tribesmen were killed in tribal clashes near the southern port city of Basra, police said Friday.
"Armed clashes broke out Thursday night between members of two tribes in Qurna", eight kilometres north of Basra, police Lieutenant Colonel Karim Ali al-Zaidi said without elaborating on what prompted the fighting. (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
