American soldiers detained six Iraqis, including two senior members of a network loyal to Saddam Hussein, in a raid carried out overnight in Tikrit.
"They represent some of the last of the inner circle that once protected Saddam and other members of the former regime," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell told reporters Friday.
He said some of them were involved in financing, organizing and sometimes participating in attacks against occupation forces.
Meanwhile, the office of the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, on Friday rejected reports on an assassination attempt on his life Thursday.
Saba television, affiliated with US occupation, had reported that gunmen sprayed Sistani's car with bullets as he left his office for home.
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