US troops seal off Baghdad neighborhood, reportedly search for Saddam
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BAGHDAD (AFP) - US troops backed by armoured vehicles sealed off a Baghdad neighborhood, saying they were searching for former regime leaders after what police said was a tip-off Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was in the area.
AFP-CPA Photo
"We're conducting an operation against former regime loyalists and possible blacklist members," US Major John Frisbee told AFP.
"We have reports that some of these people have been spotted," he said, adding: "We will try to catch them."
He said the troops were also searching buildings in the area that may serve as safe houses for supporters of Saddam, who has been in hiding since US troops toppled him on April 9.
An Iraqi policeman, who asked not to be named, said one person claimed to have seen the fugitive (news - Y! TV) ex-leader in a car in the area.
An employee at the Cedar Hotel, within the area sealed off with barbed wire and several dozen armored military vehicles, said US troops asked him whether he had seen Saddam.
A Turkish guest at the hotel, Gulin Pasturk, said a US soldier had told her Tuesday evening "Saddam was seen here 10 minutes ago."
US forces searched the hotel, but declined to say whether they were looking for Saddam.
"We're sealing off the perimeter, that's all I can say," said one of the soldiers, who would only identify himself as Staff Sergeant Stevens, as the troops unrolled barbed wire between the Cedar Hotel and the Al-Rimal hotel facing it.
A large area of Baghdad's Karada neighborhood was sealed off with residents and guests, among them several foreign correspondents, prevented from entering or leaving the area where at least 100 soldiers were deployed.
AI
