From the BBC Online
Dated Thursday October 30 9:34 GMT (1:34 am PST)
US launches anti-insurgency raids
US troops have carried out raids in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, arresting a number of people they suspect of planning to carry out attacks on coalition forces in Iraq.
"We were targeting what we suspect was a terrorist cell network," Colonel Steve Russell told the Reuters news agency.
The raid came as the US voiced suspicions that a former senior member of the Saddam Hussein government was co-ordinating attacks from the area.
A senior defence official in Washington said there was evidence that Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was officially number two in the former regime, was helping direct the insurgency.
Mr Ibrahim is the highest-ranking official still at large other than Saddam Hussein himself.
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When do the search and destroy missions start?