US Prepares Battle Force to Wipe Out Hardline Iraqi Resistance

A force of more than 1,500 US troops, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, is to take control of two towns near Baghdad that are thought to be sheltering Iraqi fighters still loyal to Saddam Hussein.

In the next 10 days, battle-hardened troops of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division will be sent into Falluja and Habaniya, west of Baghdad. The troops, who led the invasion of Iraq and the capture of Baghdad, will be backed up by 88 Abrams tanks and 44 Bradley fighting vehicles.

They will saturate the area with checkpoints and conduct search operations, targeting Ba'ath party supporters and other militias from the towns.

Last week, two American soldiers were killed and nine were injured in Falluja when a group of Iraqis opened fire at a checkpoint.

Many in the town speak openly of their loyalty to the former regime and are deeply critical of the US presence.

Meanwhile Tony Blair's special envoy on human rights, Ann Clwyd, came under gunfire in northern Iraq yesterday.

Ms Clwyd, Labour MP for Cynon Valley, who has been in Iraq for a week looking at mass graves, was travelling near the oil city of Kirkuk in an eight-strong convoy, protected by US soldiers and Kurdish peshmerga.

She told her Westminster office that about eight to ten bandits opened fire on the convoy. The US soldiers and the peshmerga gave chase but no one was caught. No one was hurt in the incident.

While the US is still facing serious security problems in Iraq, there were also new hurdles yesterday in the slow-moving political process.

Iraqi political leaders rejected plans by the American-led authority in Baghdad to appoint the first elements of a new government, insisting instead that Iraqis should choose their own leaders.

At a meeting with the seven major political groups on Sunday Paul Bremer, the US official running Iraq, presented a plan under which he would appoint a political council of between 25 and 30 Iraqis to form the core of a future government.

But the parties yesterday insisted on a more democratic process. "We think this is not the right thing to do," said Hamed al-Bayati, a spokesman for the powerful Shia religious party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

He was speaking after the seven parties met in a Baghdad hotel to discuss Mr Bremer's proposal.

"We believe according to the UN resolution that the Iraqi people should select their own administration in consultation with the allies," Dr Bayati said. "This is a joint view of all the parties. We are going to go on with our own choice, which is an Iraqi mechanism to select an Iraqi administration."

Under the latest UN security council resolution on Iraq, approved a fortnight ago, Iraqis have a clear right to choose their political future.

Already the US-led authority has found some of its decisions highly unpopular. Yesterday at least 3,000 former soldiers protested outside the heavily guarded Republican Palace, where Mr Bremer's authority is based, at the decision to dissolve the 400,000-strong Iraqi army. Many of the sacked soldiers threatened armed resistance against the US unless they were given new jobs.