Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division rescued Yahlin Kaya, a construction company employee, during their sweep of the city 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Division spokesman Maj. Neal E. O'Brien said Kaya was evacuated to a medical facility just outside the embattled city. His condition was not given.

The Turkish national worked for the 77 Construction Company in Samarra, the major said, providing no other details.

US and Iraqi forces early Friday launched an assault to seize one of the major bastions of insurgency in Iraq.

Iraqi hospital officials said that about 80 people have been killed and 100 wounded in the fighting.

AFP from Jakarta: Jakarta was preparing a crisis team to try to secure the release of two Indonesian women seized by Islamic militants in Iraq but said it had made no decision on whether it would negotiate with kidnappers.

The capture of the women, who were pictured wearing Islamic headscarves in a video shot by the militants and aired on Arabic television, has caused surprise and consternation in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated country.

Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Rosidah binti Anom and Rafikan binti Amin, who were working for a British company, had been captured by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

The group, which appears to be an offshoot of another group which has been holding two French journalists since August 20, has not made any ransom or political demands to Indonesia, he said.