US admits Iraq still a war zone as air raids relaunched

Warplanes and armoured vehicles pounded suspected Iraqi guerrilla hideouts in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit yesterday as US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was forced to admit that Iraq was still a "war zone".

"We are involved in an insurgency, and that's pretty close to war," Armitage said, as the US army continued Operation Ivy Cyclone, a new drive to root out guerrillas in the hostile territory around Tikrit.

US Military sources confirmed that 16 people had been detained in the past 24 hours as part of the operation and five killed.

But in a new attack by Iraqi insurgents in the volatile town of Falluja, west of Baghdad, another two US soldiers were killed and one was wounded when a roadside bomb was detonated near their convoy.

The latest American casualties came only a day after six soldiers were killed in the shooting down of a Black Hawk helicopter, prompting the US assault on Tikrit.

Late last night Iraqi guerrillas also fired at least one mortar which landed close to the US-led administration headquarters in Baghdad but caused no casualties. It was the third such attack in the last week.

In another blow to US efforts to achieve stability and get more countries to share the burden of policing Iraq, Turkey confirmed it had reversed a decision to send thousands of troops to the country.

The air raids carried out yesterday as part of Operation Ivy Cyclone were the first since Washington declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1. Since that date at least 149 US soldiers have been killed in action. During this weekend's extensive operation, F-16 fighter-bombers swooped over Tikrit, dropping 500-pound bombs. Troops backed by Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles then launched raids around the town.

Major Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division said the US action was a "show of force" designed to destroy hiding places in the area for guerrillas. US troops also seized a large cache of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades hidden in a tomb in Samarra, which lies between Baghdad and Tikrit.

"This operation is a concentrated, uncompromising effort to locate and detain or eliminate any person that seeks to harm coalition forces or innocent Iraqis as they work together to bring stability and security to a free Iraq," said a US army statement.

But in a grim reminder of Saddam's decades-long dictatorial rule, Iraqi and American rights investigators told a conference yesterday they had identified 260 mass graves containing the bodies of at least 300,000 Iraqis murdered by his regime.

The latest escalation in fighting across Iraq came at the same time as tension reached dangerous new levels in the Gulf region as the US shut its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia, and Britain declared there was a high threat of terrorist attacks in neighbouring Bahrain and Qatar.

Warning that guerrillas could be on the verge of carrying out attacks in Saudi Arabia, both Washington and London urged their nationals in the oil-rich state to remain vigilant.

"The embassy continues to receive credible information that terrorists in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom," said a US advisory. Washington has also made a separate warning terrorists may be planning to hijack cargo planes overseas and crash them into targets in America.

Diplomats estimate there are 35,000 US and up to 30,000 British citizens in Saudi Arabia.

Suicide bombers killed 35 people, including nine Americans, in an attack on Western residential compounds in Riyadh six months ago. Saudi Arabia blamed bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and launched a crackdown on Muslim militants.

"God willing, we will obliterate them soon We are hunting them down regardless of how long it takes, until we rid this country of them," said Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.

Five militants have died in clashes with security forces there since last Monday, when authorities said they had foiled a planned attack on Muslim pilgrims in the holy city of Mecca.

The US embassy in Riyadh, guarded by military vehicles in the city's high security diplomatic quarter, was closed to the public. Diplomats said it would stay shut and they would review the situation on a "day-by-day basis". US missions in the Saudi coastal cities of Jeddah and Dhahran were also shut.

Pro-Western Bahrain, the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, witnessed anti-US protests in the run-up to the US-led war on Iraq which toppled Saddam Hussein, but there have been few attacks against Westerners in the island state.

British Foreign Office advice for the region has also been revised to highlight general security and terrorist threats, including possible use of chemical and biological substances.

- Bush fights back: page 17

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