Iraqi town’s mayor, more arrested

BAGHDAD, Iraq – In Baquba, 25 miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi forces arrested 371 suspected terrorists Saturday, including the town’s mayor, the deputy chairman of the city council, the deputy chief of the appeals court and several police officers, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hasan Tamimi, a senior interior ministry official, said Sunday.

Local officials were outraged at the sweeping arrests, complaining they were based on unsubstantiated tips. The mayor, Khaid Sanjari, said he was released Sunday without being questioned. Oaf Rahoomi, the deputy provincial governor, called the arrests “random” and charged the operation had “sectarian goals” aimed at preventing Sunni Arabs from taking part in national elections scheduled for Dec. 15.

Sunni Arabs, who comprise about 20 percent of Iraq’s population, controlled the country under former President Saddam Hussein. Shiites, who account for 60 percent of the population, now dominate the country’s security forces.

Two Marines were killed Saturday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Amiriyah, about 25 miles southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement Sunday. And a U.S. soldier died Saturday in a “non-hostile” traffic accident near Rawah, in western Iraq, about 50 miles from the Syrian border, the military said in a separate statement.

Confusion continued to surround the fate of Iraq’s former vice president and the country’s most wanted man, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, after an obscure Arab-language Web site reported Friday that he had died. Al-Douri, who would be about 63 and reportedly has leukemia, is considered the highest-ranking member of Saddam’s inner circle still at large.

Another Web site, the official site of the Arab Baath Socialist Party, reported Sunday that “the holy warrior Izzat al-Douri is fine,” calling earlier reports of his death “baseless.”

“We apologize to our brothers and sisters for publishing a statement announcing the death of brother Izzat al-Douri, Abu Ahmed, may God extend his life,” the brief message stated.

It was not possible to independently confirm the statements. Many reports of his death appear to be based on Internet echoes from a Web site in Britain with Baathist ties that first reported his demise Friday.