.Bombing Kills 4 Amid Baghdad Crackdown
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A car bomb killed four people and clashes broke out in two Sunni Arab strongholds Wednesday after tens of thousands of Iraqi troops fanned out across Baghdad in a major security crackdown aimed at ending the violence that has devastated the capital.
Cars backed up throughout the city of 6 million at checkpoints behind coils of barbed wire as Iraqi police and soldiers searched vehicles and secured roads into and out of the capital.
Barely more than six hours after visiting Baghdad, President Bush said violence in Iraq will never be eliminated but that the crackdown and new intelligence on terrorism are contributing to "steady progress."
Despite the stepped-up security, a parked car bomb struck the northern district of Qahira, killing four civilians and wounding six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said.
Clashes broke out in the northern Sunni district of Azamiyah, with heavy exchanges of gunfire sending residents scurrying for cover. The clashes took place near the Grand Imam Abu Hanifa mosque, the holiest Sunni Muslim shrine in Iraq. There were reports of casualties or other details.
Most stores were closed in Azamiyah and mostly Sunni Dora, two strongholds of the insurgency. Entire streets in Dora, southern Baghdad, were deserted, including al-Moalemeem road, dubbed "Death Road" by residents because of the frequent clashes there between Sunni insurgents and security forces and sectarian killings.
In Baghdad's central and mainly Shiite Karradah district, beset by a series of car bombs in the past week, Iraqi army troops patrolled on foot. Some were deployed at main intersections in pickup trucks with machine-guns mounted on their roofs.
U.S. troops patrolled parts of Baghdad in convoys of up to four Humvees. They used the more heavily armored Bradley fighting vehicles in Dora.
Traffic was heaviest in areas where security forces were deployed in large numbers, forcing traffic to one lane. They also conducted random searches.
The crackdown, which army officials said was dubbed Operation Forward Together, began a day after Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad, promising continued U.S. support for Iraqis but cautioning that "the future of the country is in your hands."
Bush said that any expectation of "zero violence" in Iraq was unreasonable, but he also said Iraqi and coalition forces were stepping up their activities against insurgents, in part by using new intelligence gathered in raids following the killing of top Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week.
"We got new intelligence from those raids which will enable us to keep the pressure on the foreigners and the local Iraqis who are killing innocent lives," he said.
Bush also said the security crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki offered the promise of reducing the violence.
With al-Maliki's new unity government in place, "The progress will be steady toward a goal that has clearly been defined," Bush said.
Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim said 80 percent of the operations staged by "terrorists and organized crime" were targeting civilians. He added that 15 percent are against Iraqi security forces and 5 percent are against coalition forces. He did not provide comparative figures or any other details.
Iraqis encountered more checkpoints and soldiers Wednesday morning, causing traffic to back up in some areas, although noticeably fewer cars were circulating elsewhere.
"These operations will escalate according to the changing methods of the enemy. We have to change the security situation the capital," Jassim said.
Al-Maliki urged Iraqis to be patient and promised that the security forces would respect human rights and would not single out any ethnic or sectarian group.
"We are only going to attack areas that are dens for terrorists," he said at a news conference.
Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry, said his forces had not encountered any resistance, even in some of the capital's most volatile areas.
Security officials said Tuesday that 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces would be deployed throughout Baghdad, securing roads in and out of the city, establishing more checkpoints, launching raids against insurgent hideouts and calling in airstrikes if necessary.
Al-Maliki also announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show "no mercy" to terrorists.
The government did not say how long the crackdown would last and declined to give precise numbers about checkpoints and troops on Wednesday, citing security concerns.
Al-Garrawi said the operation was the biggest of its kind in Baghdad since the U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004.
The Iraqi army launched a similar crackdown dubbed Operation Lightning in May 2005, deploying more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by U.S. troops and air support. However, violence continued to spike and many Sunnis were alienated by the heavy-handed tactics concentrating on their neighborhoods.
The curfew starts at 9 p.m., two hours before the normal time, and ends at 6 a.m., two hours past the previous cutoff.
Bush's visit, meanwhile, prompted a protest in Baghdad by hundreds of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The demonstrators raised Iraqi flags and pictures of al-Sadr while chanting "Iraq is for Iraqis" and "No, to the occupation."
Al-Sadr led two armed uprisings against U.S.-led forces in 2004 and frequently has criticized the foreign military mission.
Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji, one of al-Sadr's closest political advisers, accused Bush of breaching Iraq's sovereignty by arriving in the country without notice.
His trip was made under incredibly tight security and only a handful of close aides knew about it in advance. Al-Maliki himself did not know Bush was in Baghdad until five minutes before they met.
"Even the Iraqi prime minister wasn't informed about the visit by the American president to Iraq," Abdul-Hadi al-Darajial-Daraji told Al-Jazeera TV. "These violations by the U.S.A. ... are in fact rejected by the Iraqi people."
He also demanded a pullout of U.S.-led troops.
Bush said the withdrawal of 130,000 U.S. forces would depend on how well Iraqis accept al-Maliki's new government. Enough U.S. troops would remain in Iraq "for the government to succeed," he said.
In other violence:
- Gunmen shot and killed a civilian in western Baghdad as he was driving his car.
- Roadside bombs in two western Baghdad neighborhoods killed one police commando and injured two.
- In Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, town councilman Wathiq Mohamed al-Shaibani and one his bodyguards were shot and killed.
- Four policemen were injured by a roadside bomb in Mosul.
MyWay
Cars backed up throughout the city of 6 million at checkpoints behind coils of barbed wire as Iraqi police and soldiers searched vehicles and secured roads into and out of the capital.
Barely more than six hours after visiting Baghdad, President Bush said violence in Iraq will never be eliminated but that the crackdown and new intelligence on terrorism are contributing to "steady progress."
Despite the stepped-up security, a parked car bomb struck the northern district of Qahira, killing four civilians and wounding six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said.
Clashes broke out in the northern Sunni district of Azamiyah, with heavy exchanges of gunfire sending residents scurrying for cover. The clashes took place near the Grand Imam Abu Hanifa mosque, the holiest Sunni Muslim shrine in Iraq. There were reports of casualties or other details.
Most stores were closed in Azamiyah and mostly Sunni Dora, two strongholds of the insurgency. Entire streets in Dora, southern Baghdad, were deserted, including al-Moalemeem road, dubbed "Death Road" by residents because of the frequent clashes there between Sunni insurgents and security forces and sectarian killings.
In Baghdad's central and mainly Shiite Karradah district, beset by a series of car bombs in the past week, Iraqi army troops patrolled on foot. Some were deployed at main intersections in pickup trucks with machine-guns mounted on their roofs.
U.S. troops patrolled parts of Baghdad in convoys of up to four Humvees. They used the more heavily armored Bradley fighting vehicles in Dora.
Traffic was heaviest in areas where security forces were deployed in large numbers, forcing traffic to one lane. They also conducted random searches.
The crackdown, which army officials said was dubbed Operation Forward Together, began a day after Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad, promising continued U.S. support for Iraqis but cautioning that "the future of the country is in your hands."
Bush said that any expectation of "zero violence" in Iraq was unreasonable, but he also said Iraqi and coalition forces were stepping up their activities against insurgents, in part by using new intelligence gathered in raids following the killing of top Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week.
"We got new intelligence from those raids which will enable us to keep the pressure on the foreigners and the local Iraqis who are killing innocent lives," he said.
Bush also said the security crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki offered the promise of reducing the violence.
With al-Maliki's new unity government in place, "The progress will be steady toward a goal that has clearly been defined," Bush said.
Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim said 80 percent of the operations staged by "terrorists and organized crime" were targeting civilians. He added that 15 percent are against Iraqi security forces and 5 percent are against coalition forces. He did not provide comparative figures or any other details.
Iraqis encountered more checkpoints and soldiers Wednesday morning, causing traffic to back up in some areas, although noticeably fewer cars were circulating elsewhere.
"These operations will escalate according to the changing methods of the enemy. We have to change the security situation the capital," Jassim said.
Al-Maliki urged Iraqis to be patient and promised that the security forces would respect human rights and would not single out any ethnic or sectarian group.
"We are only going to attack areas that are dens for terrorists," he said at a news conference.
Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry, said his forces had not encountered any resistance, even in some of the capital's most volatile areas.
Security officials said Tuesday that 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces would be deployed throughout Baghdad, securing roads in and out of the city, establishing more checkpoints, launching raids against insurgent hideouts and calling in airstrikes if necessary.
Al-Maliki also announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show "no mercy" to terrorists.
The government did not say how long the crackdown would last and declined to give precise numbers about checkpoints and troops on Wednesday, citing security concerns.
Al-Garrawi said the operation was the biggest of its kind in Baghdad since the U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004.
The Iraqi army launched a similar crackdown dubbed Operation Lightning in May 2005, deploying more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by U.S. troops and air support. However, violence continued to spike and many Sunnis were alienated by the heavy-handed tactics concentrating on their neighborhoods.
The curfew starts at 9 p.m., two hours before the normal time, and ends at 6 a.m., two hours past the previous cutoff.
Bush's visit, meanwhile, prompted a protest in Baghdad by hundreds of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The demonstrators raised Iraqi flags and pictures of al-Sadr while chanting "Iraq is for Iraqis" and "No, to the occupation."
Al-Sadr led two armed uprisings against U.S.-led forces in 2004 and frequently has criticized the foreign military mission.
Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji, one of al-Sadr's closest political advisers, accused Bush of breaching Iraq's sovereignty by arriving in the country without notice.
His trip was made under incredibly tight security and only a handful of close aides knew about it in advance. Al-Maliki himself did not know Bush was in Baghdad until five minutes before they met.
"Even the Iraqi prime minister wasn't informed about the visit by the American president to Iraq," Abdul-Hadi al-Darajial-Daraji told Al-Jazeera TV. "These violations by the U.S.A. ... are in fact rejected by the Iraqi people."
He also demanded a pullout of U.S.-led troops.
Bush said the withdrawal of 130,000 U.S. forces would depend on how well Iraqis accept al-Maliki's new government. Enough U.S. troops would remain in Iraq "for the government to succeed," he said.
In other violence:
- Gunmen shot and killed a civilian in western Baghdad as he was driving his car.
- Roadside bombs in two western Baghdad neighborhoods killed one police commando and injured two.
- In Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, town councilman Wathiq Mohamed al-Shaibani and one his bodyguards were shot and killed.
- Four policemen were injured by a roadside bomb in Mosul.
MyWay
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