American soldiers shot dead a senior officer of the paramilitary group Saddam Fedayeen after storming his house in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, his neighbors said.
The U.S. Army confirmed there were raids early Wednesday in Mosul but refused to comment on the reported death of Col. Ghanem Abdul-Ghani Sultan al-Zeidi.
Two of al-Zeidi's neighbors told The AP U.S. troops stormed his one-story house in Mosul's central neighborhood of al-Sukar about 4 a.m. and shooting was heard later. Helicopters took part in the operation, the neighbors added.
Members of the Saddam Fedayeen, the paramilitary group that was run by Saddam Hussein's late son Odai, are believed to be taking part in attacks against U.S. occupation forces in Iraq.
Meanwhile, American troops abducted three Iraqis suspected of leading Iraqi resistance cells in their houses in the early hours of Thursday and said they seized a cache of weapons big enough to launch "50 attacks."
In the front garden of one of the two homes raided in the northern city of Tikrit, occupation troops dug up a hoard of rifles, grenades and explosives.
According to US commanders, quoted by Reuters, the three Iraqis detained, two brothers and a brother-in-law all aged about 40, were members of Mohammed's Army, a group he described as a "local terrorist cell" based in Tikrit. (Albawaba.com)
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