IRAQ - May 27 - US Raids Al Qaeda Hideout, Freeing 42 Iraqi Hostages.

American forces raid a Qaeda hideout northeast of Baghdad and free 42 Iraqis imprisoned inside, including some who had been tortured and suffered broken bones. The raid was part of a three-month-old security crackdown that included the deployment of 3,000 more US troops to Diyala, a violent province north of the capital that has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks, said Maj Gen William Caldwell, the top US military spokesman in Iraq. Caldwell said Iraqis told US forces about the hideout. "The people in Diyala are speaking up against Al Qaeda", he said. He said the 42 freed Iraqis represented the largest number of captives ever found in a single Qaeda prison. Some of those freed were held for as long as four months and some had wounds from torture and were taken to medical facilities for treatment, he said. Two US soldiers were killed when explosions hit their patrols - one in Diyala and one in western Baghdad, the military reported May 27. Also May 27, American and Iraqi troops raided Baghdad's Sadr City slum, targeting Shi'ite insurgent cells there for a second day and arresting a suspect believed to be involved in smuggling armor-piercing bombs from Iran, the military said. The cell has also sent Iraqi militants to Iran for training, the statement said. During another raid in Sadr City, troops shot an approaching vehicle that ignored signals to stop, the military said. No one was wounded in the shooting, but the vehicle was set ablaze, the military said. The AP Television News footage showed several cars burned in the street, including a van that was scorched black, had its windows knocked out and its upholstery incinerated. The footage also showed a house that appeared to have been ransacked. Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American theologian who emerged from months in hiding last week, met May 27 in Najaf with leaders of his movement to discuss Iraq's security and political situation, said Salah al-Obeidi, a senior aide to Sadr. "The occupation forces bear responsibility for the suffering the country is facing, and there is no solution but the withdrawal of the forces", said Obeidi, echoing demands Sadr made in the sermon he delivered after reappearing May 25. Sadr's Shi'ite Mahdi army militia has repeatedly battled with American and British troops in the streets of Sadr City and Basra, where British troops killed one of the theologian's commanders in a gunfight May 25. After two days of pitched fighting with the Shi'ite militants, the British carried out an arrest raid early May 27. During the raid, their forces were attacked with roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, the British said. The troops returned fire, killing three of their attackers and arresting four militants. No British forces were wounded. Meanwhile, in Kut, 160 kms, or 100 miles, southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned May 27 morning and handed in their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi army militants, the police said. On May 27, gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing one person and wounding eight, the police said. The gunmen later ambushed a minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six passengers, the police added. In other violence, gunmen shot up the car of Lt Col Hiyis al-Jubouri, a police commander in the northern Salahuddin Province, killing him and another officer, the police said. Gunmen also attacked a group of farmers in the Nahrawan district, 16 kms east of Baghdad, killing two and wounding nine, the police said. The US military command announced late May 26 that 11 US service members had died, bringing the total of US military deaths this month to at least 101 and making May one of the deadliest months for the US forces since the start of the war, according to Pentagon data. Of the 11 American deaths announced Saturday, 10 were the result of enemy action and one was a "noncombat-related incident", the American military said. Five of the deaths occurred in or near Baghdad, three in Salahuddin Province, two in Anbar Province and one in Diyala Province. At least 19 people were killed and scores wounded in a flurry of attacks around Baghdad on May 26 involving mortar shells, roadside bombs, car bombs and ambushes, an Interior Ministry official said. The violence came before talks scheduled May 28 between the American and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq, who are to discuss ways of stabilising the country. The Bush administration has accused the Iranian government of fomenting the sectarian violence in Iraq by abetting Shi'ite militias, including the Mahdi army, with arms and training. Iran denies that and blames the presence of US forces in Iraq for the violence.