Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been shelling targets near Saddam Hussein’s home-town of Tikrit as part of Operation Ivy Cyclone Two to step up the pressure against insurgents in Iraq in response to mounting losses. The Washington Post reports that the U.S. military has surrounded a village on the outskirts of Tikrit with concertina wire, issued identification cards to all male residents and begun controlling access to the town to clamp down on attacks.

American soldiers backed by armored vehicles and helicopters also raided a Baghdad neighborhood overnight searching 450 houses over seven hours in the hunt for weapons and fighters.

And U.S. forces fired a satellite-guided missile at a “guerrilla camp” west of Kirkuk for the first time since major combat ended.