Iraqi Commander In Sunni Insurgent Hotspot Gunned Down With Aide

SAMARRA, Iraq, Aug 16 (AFP) - The Iraqi national guard commander in the Sunni Muslim insurgent hotspot of Samarra was gunned down with a senior aide Monday in an operation claimed by an underground militant group.
Lieutenant Colonel Ihsan al-Saji and Captain Saddam Hussein were killed on the main highway north of Baghdad as they travelled to the capital, an interior ministry official said.
Saji had already seen one brother killed and another deprived of a leg in reprisal attacks by the insurgents, the official said.
He had "made alot of enemies" following repeated US-led counterinsurgency operations in the town, most recently on Saturday.
In a flier distributed in Samarra, the Ahwaz branch of the Islamic Secret Army said it carried out the killings and threatened similar attacks against other Iraqi security force personnel.
"We cut him to pieces and scattered the remains on the road," the group said. "Those who continue to work for the occupation forces will experience the same fate."
The attack came hours after a senior US commander warned his troops would not hesitate to launch further operations against the insurgents, like Saturday's joint air and ground assault in which the US military said 50 were killed.
"If we find enemies in Samarra, we will strike, because it's good for people of Samarra and it's good for people of Iraq," said Major General John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division.
"We need to take control of Samarra, for the sake of its 250,000 people."
In a meeting with Batiste, provincial governor Hamid Homood Shakti asked US troops to reopen a bridge in the city, but the general refused until "terrorists and foreign fighters" leave Samarra.
We have "tens of millions dollars in projects in Samarra, but you won't get a dime as long as the city is not working hands to hands with the coalition," he said.
There was no independent confirmation of the US military's death toll for Saturday's operation. After the fighting, the city's main hospital reported 25 Iraqis dead and 86 wounded, many of them women and children.