Nearby American attacks on Iraqi cities, 200 Iraqis killed in 48 hours

The US forces are preparing to launch air raids and land attacks at cities in the west of Iraq. This was in the course of its search for the leader of al-Qaida organization in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who vowed to expand his bloody attacks which inflected during the past 48 hours in killing more than 200 persons and injuring 600 just in Baghdad.

The spokesman for the American army in Iraq, Gen Rick Linch, said that the American forces are preparing to launch attacks at cities close to the valley of the Euphrates river, including the two cities of al-Qaem and Haditha. He said "the sooner we see him ( al-Zarqawi) tries to establish a safe haven, we will carry out operations similar to that we had in Tel-Afer."

Earlier the Iraqi defense minister Sadoun al-Duleimi set other four Iraqi cities in west Iraq, al-Ramadi., Sameraa, Rawa and al-Qaem, as targets for attacks carried out by the Iraqi and American forces at gunmen, similar to the Tel-Afer attack.

Gen. Linch confirmed that the US forces is looking for any al-Zarqawi movement. He said that his forces has great intelligence information on the place of his movement in the Euphrates valley, west Iraq.

In a press conference he held in Baghdad on Thursday evening the American general explained that his forces will use all available means in collaboration with the Iraqi security forces in order to find Zarqawi and kill him.