U.S., Iraq Forces Battle Insurgents

"A second campaign of about the same size, Operation Dagger, was launched Saturday - this one targeting the marshy shores of a remote lake north of Baghdad. About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi troops, backed by fighter jets and tanks, were participating.

Operation Dagger, or Khanjar in Arabic, is seeking insurgent training camps and weapons caches in the southern part of the Lake Tharthar area, 53 miles northwest of Baghdad....

...During their sweep, four Iraqi hostages were found "beaten, handcuffed and chained to a wall in a bunker.""
MyWay

These are new details about a new operation. This story is developing...

And this:

"The most severely beaten man was found crumpled under a stairwell in the house, where marines also found a 574-page handwritten manual on taking hostages according to Islamic law. The marines thought he was dead, but finally he finally stirred."
NYT

Boy! It's like the bookclub today.