U.S. troops encircled the Iraqi city of Najaf on Sunday, blocking roads into town. Pushing through small arms and mortar fire, the division's 1st and 2nd brigades began surrounding the city on Saturday, setting up roadblocks.
Meanwhile, thousands of U.S. Marines pushed north toward Baghdad in "seek and destroy" missions Sunday, trying to open the route to the Iraqi capital and stop days of attacks along a stretch that has become known as "Ambush Alley."
In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday the United States had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because troops had not yet reached the area where they are stockpiled.
Rumsfeld said U.S. officials believed the weapons are closer to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, around which most of Iraq's covert arms production and storage historically have taken place. Asked on the ABC "This Week" program if he was concerned the forces had yet to turn up any of the banned weapons, Rumsfeld said, "Not at all."
"The area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial," Rumsfeld said. "It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed.
"We know where they are, they are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north of that," he added. (Albawaba.com)
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