US-led forces today continued an offensive against suspected guerrilla targets near the northern Iraqi town of Samarra as the military response to a raging insurgency entered its second day.
"Operation Swarmer" came as Iraq's political deeply divided leadership prepares to meet again hoping to break a deadlock on forming a unity government that might avert civil war.
US military officials yesterday said the operation, involving 50 helicopters, was the biggest "air assault" since a similar air operation across Iraq just after the war in late April 2003.
Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said US-led forces were today searching a 10-mile-by-10-mile area for guerrillas and that no casualties have been reported by American or Iraqi forces. He said 50 people have been detained and 30 remain in custody.
A leading Sunni Arab politician criticised the US assault, saying it would send a discouraging signal at a time when Iraqi leaders are seeking a political solution to the country's woes.
"This large operation that used airplanes is sending a signal to parliament and Iraqis that the solution is military and not political," he said.
Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman General Salih Sarhan criticised the attention being given to the assault, describing it as one of many operations aimed at rooting out rebels and seizing weapons.
The sound of what appeared to be heavy US machineguns crackled in the village of Jillaam near Samarra overnight as a fire raged and flares arched overhead.
The chant of "God is Greatest" cut through the sound of the gunfire. But there was no sign of a counter attack by insurgents who have kept Iraq destabilised despite several American assaults in several parts of the country torn apart by sectarian tensions.
Militant violence continued despite the US action. A suicide bomber stepped into a bus and detonated his explosives belt, killing the driver and wounding four passersby.
Police also said three bodies with bullet holes to the head and signs of torture were found in the capital - apparently part of the latest wave of sectarian attacks that has left more than 100 corpses dumped in the capital alone since Monday.
South of Baghdad in Mahmudiya, in an area known as the "Triangle of Death" for its insurgent attacks,
two Shi'ite pilgrims walking to the sacred city of Kerbala were killed in a roadside bomb attack. A similar attack killed a policeman in nearby Latifiya.
The offensive comes at a time when the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, has been mediating to narrow differences among Iraqi politicians still struggling to form a government three months after parliamentary polls.
Yesterday, a first session of the new Iraqi parliament lasted just 20 minutes. It was held to meet a constitutional deadline. Sunnis and Kurds and some Shi'ites are trying to block the nomination of Shi'ite Prime Minister al-Jaafari to a second term, paralysing politics in the face of sectarian bloodshed.
However there were signs of political progress. Today, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she believed proposed talks with Iran on stabilising Iraq would be "useful".
However, US officials today again accused Iran of meddling in its neighbour's internal affairs, saying the Islamic Republic was involved in "unhelpful activities".
The statement was issued a day after Iran said it accepted a proposal by a leading Iraqi Shi'ite leader to open a dialogue with the United States on Iraq.