Former defense minister negotiates surrenders; 40 Iraqis detained following an ambush on US soldiers

An American military leader said that the occupation forces arrested 40 persons suspected to be Iraqi fighters in a fight which lasted till night time near the city of Tikrit, birthplace of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the same area in which three American soldiers were killed in an ambush on Thursday.

Col. James Hekki said that the American forces cordoned an agricultural area on the eastern bank of the river near Tikrit and arrested these persons "who attacked our vehicles" on late Thursday evening.

By this ambush, the number of American soldiers killed in attacks by Iraqi resistance tolled 76 since declaring the end of the major military operations in Iraq on May 1st, according to American statistics.

This was one of the most bloody attacks against the occupation soldiers which concentrated on what is called the "Sunni triangle" representing the heart of support for Saddam Hussein. The area also extends to the west of Baghdad and north to Tikrit.

Meantime, a nearby American camp was exposed to an attack. Hekki said that the coordination between the two attacks seems a change in resistance methods whose previous attacks seemed "spontaneous."

On the other hand, the American occupation army said that the former Iraqi defense minister Sultan Hashem Ahmad surrendered to the American forces in Iraq following negotiations. News reports said that Hashem was transported from al-Musil to Baghdad.

The official in charge of human rights league in Iraq, Dawoud Baghistani who carried out the role of the mediator in the operation said that Sultan Hashem is not accused of committing crimes, noting that the Americans promised to deal with him in a good way. Baghsitani said that the handing operation was made in coordination with the Kurdistani democratic party led by Masoud al-Barazani.