US forces arrested a suspected high-ranking member of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia who was carrying a "shopping list" for explosives materials, a military official said Thursday.
Rashid Mohammed, was also reportedly holding a list of ten Iraqi names that US troops believe was an assassination list when soldiers stopped his car on a highway north of Baqouba, with two other men in a car, Lt. Col. William Adamson from the 588th Engineering Battalion said, cited by the AP.
"We suspect this was a senior man organizing Saddam Fedayeen activities in Baqouba. We also have reason to believe, based on documents obtained, that he was actively purchasing improvised explosive devices with remote controlled detonators," Adamson said.
Adamson said other informants had told American forces that Mohammed had been trying to organize a 600-strong "militia" in the area around Baqouba.
Meanwhile, in an operation northeast of Baghdad, US soldiers raided a farmhouse Thursday after receiving a tip that ousted leader Saddam was hiding there, US military officials. They detained five men, but did not find Saddam, the officials said.
One soldier was shot in the arm as the soldiers from the 67th Armored Regiment's 3rd Battalion left the village, US military said, adding his injuries were not considered serious. The house that was raided was owned by an alleged Saddam loyalist.
In a separate development, a US soldier was killed in Iraq after the vehicle he was traveling in collided with another vehicle when his supply convoy came under fire near ad-Diwaniyah, the US army said Wednesday.
"One 3rd Corps Support Command soldier was killed and another injured in a two-vehicle accident while driving south on the main supply route southeast of the town of ad-Diwaniyah," Central Command said in a statement.
"The soldiers were driving in a supply convoy of Palletized Loading System vehicles when they received small arms fire and struck another vehicle. Both soldiers are attached to the 3rd COSCOM operating out of Kuwait," it said.
"Security, medical and recovery assets were dispatched to the scene. One soldier died as a result of the accident. The other soldier was treated and returned to duty," the statement said.
Elsewhere, another US soldier from the 1st Armored Division was killed and two others wounded by an improvised explosive device late Wednesday in the Karkah district of Baghdad, the US Central Command said in a statement Thursday.
The statement added that the injured soldiers were evacuated to the 47th Forward Support Battalion for medical treatment. (Albawaba.com)
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