U.S. airstrike targets Shiite militants

BAGHDAD – Helicopter gunships attacked suspected insurgent hideouts and U.S. and Iraqi soldiers staged simultaneous raids across Iraq on Monday as coalition forces unleashed the full force of the U.S. troop buildup with Operation Phantom Strike.

The U.S.-led commando operations targeted al-Qaida in Iraq and Shiite Muslim militants by striking at reported safe havens, weapons caches and bomb-building sites here and in other violence-plagued areas throughout the country.

At least 17 suspected insurgent leaders were captured, and dozens of improvised explosive devices were seized and disarmed, military officials said.

The operation was touted by U.S. military officials as the culmination of the deployment of nearly 30,000 more U.S. troops into Iraq in recent months. It followed recent coalition offensives aimed at flushing militants from their support zones, disrupting supply lines and capturing or killing “high-value” suspects.

“The intent is to keep the enemy on the run,” said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, whose Task Force Marne waged strikes on insurgent nests in the volatile Tigris and Euphrates river valleys.

U.S. officials blame foreign fighters and Shiite militias allegedly aided by Iran for the violence that every month kills nearly 100 American soldiers and thousands of Iraqi troops, police and civilians.

Witnesses in Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah, Mosul and Samarra reported seeing helicopters sweep over suspected insurgent hide outs, blasting them with rockets.

A senior Iraqi army officer in Fallujah said 15 insurgents were killed but that at least 60 others escaped.