US swoops on Baghdad militants

Attacks on US troops in Iraq are now routine

US forces have pursued and attacked a group of militants spotted firing mortars in Baghdad, the military said.

An Apache helicopter gunship fired on a van carrying the fleeing militants, killing two and wounding three. Five others were captured by US troops.

In a separate operation, a US ground attack plane blasted an abandoned warehouse said to have been used by militants to prepare for attacks.

Baghdad recently suffered a spate of mortar and rocket attacks.

The operations on Wednesday night came hours after a suicide car bomb attack in southern Iraq killed at least 26 people, most of them Italian servicemen.

The destruction of this structure will deny enemy forces any use of it in the future US military statement CIA warns of growing resistance

Correspondents in Baghdad reported hearing at least two dozen explosions and heavy gunfire coming from the south of the city after nightfall.

According to the US military, troops of the 1st Armoured Division in Humvee jeeps pursued a group of militants in a van after they were sighted firing mortars.

The van managed to escape the jeeps but an Apache caught sight of it near the suburb of Abu Ghraib and opened fire.

In the other operation, an AC-130 aircraft demolished a warehouse said to be used as a "meeting, planning, storage and rendezvous point for belligerent elements".

A Pentagon official quoted by the Associated Press news agency suggested the operation had been planned in advance and the official compared it to recent US strikes against suspected militant targets in Tikrit.

New militancy

A secret report by the CIA on the situation in Iraq notes that armed resistance appears to be gathering strength as Iraqis lose faith in coalition.

A US official who spoke to the BBC confirmed the findings of the report and said it was something of a warning flag.

President George W Bush met his top security officials including Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, on Wednesday to discuss progress there towards handing over power to the Iraqis themselves.

Mr Bremer later admitted the situation in Iraq was "tough" but said the administration was determined to both fight terrorism and hand over power.