Hundreds of Iraqi troops backed by US forces raided parts of a town south of Baghdad today to try to rescue Shi'ite hostages from Sunni insurgents threatening to kill them, witnesses said.
A senior Shi'ite official in Baghdad said up to 150 hostages, including women and children, were being held since guerrillas in cars carrying rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s entered Madaen late on Friday and seized them.
Iraqis said relatives were abducted but a police official said the hostages could number as few as three, and an Internet statement issued in the name of al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq said the crisis was fabricated to justify the raid by Iraqi forces.
Despite the confusion, the crisis raised fears of deeper sectarian strife in a country struggling to form a government that balances the interests of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds after decades of iron-fisted rule under Saddam Hussein.
Troops armed with machineguns and assault rifles moved to the edge of Madaen, about 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and U.S. troops cut off two bridges near the town on Sunday.
"Three brigades have been moved towards the area and this morning there were five from the Iraqi National Guard, the Ministry of Interior and multinational forces," Kassim Daoud, the minister of state for national security, told parliament.
"Three areas where we suspected there were terrorists were raided but no one was found. There are other areas we will attack soon."