NEWS FROM THE UNITED STATES 

U.S. forces report killing 20 insurgents sheltering foreign militants near Syrian border

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. soldiers and warplanes killed 20 insurgents and destroyed five "safe houses" Saturday during an operation against militants who shelter foreign fighters for Al-Qaida in Iraq near the Syrian border, the military said. Meanwhile, defence lawyers in Saddam Hussein's trial rejected protection offered by the Iraqi Interior Ministry after the kidnap-slaying of a colleague. The lawyers suggested they wanted U.S. protection, being deeply suspicious that the Iraqi police force has Shiite Muslim elements behind killings of Sunni Arabs. The U.S. military also reported a non-combat death of an army soldier in central Baghdad on Thursday, raising to at least 1,993 the number of American military deaths since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The murder of lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi terrorized the 12 remaining lawyers who appeared at the first session of Saddam's trial Wednesday representing the ousted dictator and seven former officials from his Sunni-dominated Baathist regime. In Saturday's fighting, 20 insurgents suspected of harbouring foreign extremists were killed and one was captured by U.S.-led forces during raids on houses in Husaybah, a town near the Syrian border, the military said in a statement. Coalition forces raided two neighbourhoods in Husaybah and discovered two large weapons caches containing small arms, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, explosives and bomb-making materials that included radios and detonators, the statement said. The soldiers destroyed a car bomb found near one of the buildings, and Air Force planes then used precision-guided munitions to destroy the "safe houses," the military said. In Washington, U.S. intelligence officials said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, has expanded his terrorism campaign from Iraq to two dozen groups scattered across almost 40 countries, creating a network that rivals Osama bin Laden's. The U.S. officials said the threat to American interests from al-Zarqawi compared with that from bin Laden, to whom al-Zarqawi pledged his loyalty a year ago. In other violence Saturday, two roadside bombs and a drive-by shooting killed three Iraqi policemen and wounded four in Baghdad, authorities said. Gunmen also killed a former Iraqi soldier in front of his home in Karbala, 80 kilometres south of Baghdad, police said. Iraqis were still waiting to learn the outcome of the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum. Initial returns indicated the charter passed, but an unusually high "yes" vote in some areas fuelled charges of fraud from Sunni Arab leaders who opposed the constitution. A team of international and Iraqi experts pored over some of the results Saturday looking for any irregularities. The audit in Ninevah and three other provinces would delay announcement of the final results until at least Monday or Tuesday, the Electoral Commission said. Commission officials, however, insisted that no fraud had been uncovered. "We did not find any significant violations that would have any effect on the final results of the referendum," member Safwat Rashid said at a news conference in Baghdad. Iraqi government officials met late Friday to discuss improving security for the defence lawyers in Saddam's trial. "We have decided to take some measures to protect the lawyers," Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal told The Associated Press on Saturday, though he refused to give details. But one of Saddam's two lawyers said the entire defence team rejected an offer of guards from the Interior Ministry. He said they were talking with U.S. officials about getting protection from American troops. Khamees Hamid al-Ubaidi pointed to frequent Sunni Arab accusations that Interior Ministry forces or Shiite militias linked to the government have killed of Sunni Arabs. "We refused because of our lack of trust in the Iraqi security agencies," al-Ubaidi said. "Everyone knows there are elements in the Interior Ministry that assassinate Iraqis." Al-Janabi, a lawyer for one of Saddam's co-defendants, was abducted Thursday night when men wearing police and military uniforms barged into his Baghdad office and took him away. Hours later, his body was found dumped on a nearby sidewalk, with two bullet wounds to the head and signs of torture. Police said the gunmen were wearing the uniforms as a disguise. But it was reminiscent of other abductions in recent months in which Sunni Arabs were taken away by men in uniform claiming to be with the Interior Ministry, only to turn up dead. Sunni leaders have blamed those slayings on Shiite death squads in or linked to the ministry. The government denies any role, blaming the attacks on insurgents, who have been known in other cases to wear stolen uniforms to carry out attacks. -Sammir Yaacoub