Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 18 December 2003 — Amid persistent violence since the weekend arrest of Saddam Hussein, a fuel truck speeding toward a police station collided with a bus at a Baghdad intersection before dawn yesterday, killing at least 17 Iraqis.

An Iraqi official said the US military was holding Saddam in the Baghdad area, and that the former dictator could stay there until he is put on trial.

North of Baghdad, the US Army staged a massive raid in the restive town of Samarra, detaining at least a dozen guerrilla suspects after snaring almost 80 others, including an alleged rebel financier, in the past few days.

The explosion in Baghdad’s southwestern Bayya’a district happened shortly after dawn in a ball of flame that tore through a packed minibus and several civilian cars, police said.

One police officer said the truck appeared to be aiming for a nearby police station but collided with the minibus, triggering the blast. At least 17 people, mostly passengers, were killed and around 16 were badly burned in the inferno.

Late at night, the US military called it an accident, not an attack. “It was a fuel truck that had a traffic accident, caught fire and exploded,” said Capt. Jason Beck of the 1st Armored Division, which oversees security in Baghdad.

Roadside bombs are a favorite weapon of guerrillas who use them to attack US military patrols. Civilians are often caught up in such attacks.

The coalition scored a major victory over the weekend with Saddam’s capture. But violence has continued in west and north of Baghdad, once Saddam’s power base. Violent protests in Ramadi and Fallujah followed a period of relative quiet, though attacks on US troops there are fewer than in early November.

In Mosul, assailants shot and killed a policeman who was on his way to work. And Iraqi security forces there opened fire on pro-Saddam protesters, injuring nine.

Demonstrators marched through the streets carrying photographs of the ousted leader, and chanted “Shame, shame on traitors.” Shots rang out as they approached a post occupied by the Iraqi Facilities Protection Force (FPS) and nine people were hit, said a police officer. Rioting ensued and the students attacked the headquarters of a party representing the city’s Turkmen minority and set a party car ablaze. US forces intervened to disperse the demonstrators with batons.

Asked at a news conference about reports that US forces had moved Saddam to Qatar, Iraqi Governing Council member Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie said: “Saddam Hussein is present in an area of greater Baghdad... God willing... he will be tried in Iraq in public by an Iraqi court.”

At the news conference, council members appealed for nationwide reconciliation following Saddam’s capture. The council has established a war crimes tribunal and plans to try Saddam for human rights abuses.

The 4th Infantry Division and Iraqi forces started a new series of raids, dubbed Operation Ivy Blizzard, yesterday in Samarra. Backed by armored vehicles and Apache helicopters, US troops conducted door-to-door searches designed to stamp out guerrilla resistance in the restive town.

— Additional input from agencies