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IRAQI & U.S FORCES PUT THE SQUEEZE ON BAGHDAD
US and Iraqi forces have launched a massive operation involving more than 2,000 troops to crack down on insurgents on the western outskirts of Baghdad.Four Iraqi Army battalions and three special police commando battalions, backed by US troops, have launched the vast sweep, dubbed "Operation Squeeze Play". It is one of the largest post-war military operations in the capital to date. Battalions generally comprise 300 to 400 troops. The ongoing operation is focused on the Abu Ghraib neighbourhood in the capital, from which many of the deadly attacks carried out daily on the perilous airport road are thought to originate. The US military says the forces involved in the ongoing raid "detained a substantial number of suspected terrorists" but did not provide specific numbers. There are no immediate reports of any resistance by insurgents. The month of May has been one of the bloodiest since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with relentless car bombs and other attacks killing more than 500 people. Convoys carrying US troops, private security guards, foreign contractors and journalists are frequently hit on the airport road, a 12-kilometre stretch nicknamed the "Death Strip". Posted by: Spavirt Pheng6042 2005-05-22 |
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