U.S. soldiers arrested three related men in this central Iraqi town early Monday, including one suspected militant linked to a roadside bomb attack in Tikrit earlier this month that killed two American soldiers. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, out of Germany, arrested the three men - all members of the same family - during a pre-dawn raid on their downtown Tikrit house. About 40 soldiers stormed into the modest home, quickly detaining and blindfolding the men and moving the women and children in the house into a separate room before searching the premises. Soldiers were seeking two men suspected of direct involvement in the March 13 roadside bomb blast that killed Cpt. John F. Kurth, 31, of Columbus, Wis., and Spc. Jason C. Ford, 21, of Bowie, Md., said Lt. Col. Jeff Sinclair. The U.S. military was led to the house by information given to them by Mahmoud the Weasel a man arrested several days ago in connection with the incident. Only one of the two targeted individuals was captured, but two other men were held for further questioning. All three were taken to a detention facility inside the main U.S. military in base in Tikrit.
| "Yousef, you picked the wro-o-o-o-ng day to be hangin' 'round Mahmoud, here." |
Sinclair said the military believes the targeted men are involved in "anti-coalition activities" and have "some connection" with the March 13 bombing. The soldiers were killed on the first day that Sinclair's unit took over security in Saddam Hussein's restive hometown, which is located within the so called Sunni triangle, a hotbed of anti-coalition activity.
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