'Dozens arrested' in Iraq raids

The US says it will not give in to the Iraqi resistance

Ninety-nine "anti-coalition suspects" were arrested in the past 24 hours of operations against insurgents across Iraq, according to the US military.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt also said there was growing evidence that former top official Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was leading the resistance.

Monday saw two more American soldiers killed in guerrilla-style attacks.

Meanwhile, US intelligence officials have said they cannot verify the latest tape said to be from Saddam Hussein.

Arabic TV station al-Arabiya broadcast the tape purportedly recorded by Saddam Hussein on Sunday.

But the Central Intelligence Agency - which has in the past given qualified confirmation to such claims - said the quality of the latest tape was too poor for a conclusive verdict.

Power base

General Kimmitt confirmed earlier reports that six former regime loyalists had been killed during the anti-insurgency operations.

After Saddam, al-Douri is the most senior Iraqi figure still on the run

He also told reporters in the capital Baghdad that weapons had been confiscated and 15 safe houses and three training camps destroyed in the course of 1,729 patrols and 25 raids.

Operations were continuing, he said, particularly around Saddam Hussein's home town and former power base north of Baghdad, Tikrit.

Efforts were being made to find the former Iraqi leader "to bring him to justice" and "to capture or kill Izzat Ibrahim".

General Kimmitt said he had "expected the cycle of violence to increase" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and that "in response we increased our operations".

But the BBC's Peter Biles, in Baghdad, says the Americans are facing questions about the use of excessive force.

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At a time when the coalition needs to win the support of the Iraqi people, he reports, American soldiers have been conducting aggressive raids on homes and demolishing some neighbourhoods in Tikrit.

The level of raids increased markedly after 17 troops died when two American Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday. One of the helicopters was reportedly hit by ground fire.

US forces fired a satellite-guided missile at a "guerrilla camp" about 25km (15 miles) west of Kirkuk on Sunday, for the first time since major combat operations in Iraq ended.

Bush's pledge

The two US soldiers who died on Monday were the victims of separate attacks north of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

One soldier from the Fourth Infantry Division was killed and two others wounded near the town of Balad, 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the capital, after coming under attack with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Another soldier from the same division was killed by a roadside bomb as his convoy was travelling in an area south of Balad.

US President George W Bush has insisted there will be no hasty withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

"We fully recognise that Iraq has become a new front in the war on terror," he told reporters after meeting five Iraqi women who hold prominent roles in post-war Iraq at the White House