In a show of force backed by tanks and mortars, US forces assaulted dozens of suspected guerrilla positions in Saddam Hussein's hometown before dawn yesterday, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others.

　　US forces fired a satellite-guided missile carrying a 500-pound warhead at a suspected insurgent sanctuary 16 kilometers south of Tikrit - the second use in as many days of the powerful weapon amid a US drive to intimidate the resistance.

　　In Baghdad, troops mounted their biggest-ever hunt for weapons and explosives in a middle-class Baghdad area, angering residents who said their small arms were needed to protect themselves in the crime-plagued capital.

　　The military also announced that soldiers in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad arrested an organizer of the Fedayeen guerrillas responsible for bomb attacks and ambushes on US forces. The suspect, Kazim Mohammed Faris, was a "high value target," a military statement said.

　　Faced with a deteriorating security situation, the military in past days has reacted with massive show of force in central and northern Iraq. At the same time, the US-led coalition has bowed to demands from Iraqi politicians and agreed to speed the transfer of power.

　　The new formula, announced on Saturday by the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, calls for a provisional, sovereign government to be established by June. However, France's foreign minister said in an interview published on Monday in the French daily Le Croix that the plan still moves too slowly.

　　In Tikrit, US forces carried out more than 38 attacks from Sunday night to early yesterday, destroying 15 suspected safehouses, three training camps and 14 mortar firing points, said Lieutenant Colonel William MacDonald, a spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division.

　　Six suspected Saddam loyalists were killed and 21 arrested, he said.

　　"Clearly, we're sending the message that we do have the ability to run operations across a wide area," said MacDonald. "We have overwhelming combat power that we will utilize insgroupsto go after groups and individuals who have been conducting anti-coalition activities."

　　In Samara, three Iraqis who fired on US soldiers were killed in an ensuing clash on Sunday night. In Muqdadiyah, two Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade on US soldiers aboard a Bradley fighting vehicle.