About 600 US troops launched a pre-dawn assault south of Baghdad on Friday against Al Qaeda fighters linked to the kidnapping of two soldiers six months ago, the US military said. F-16 warplanes dropped two 500-lb bombs on potential escape routes while helicopters flew the US troops, along with about 150 Iraqi soldiers, into the Sunni Arab villages of Al Owesap and Al Betra west of the Euphrates River.
“The group of Al Qaeda that we believe to be operating in that area, we suspect they had involvement in the May 12th attack,” said US military spokeswoman Major Alayne Conway. There was no immediate information about whether any militants had been killed or detained in the early stages of the operation, she said.