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Security Forces Launch Baghdad Crackdown
Iraqi security forces launched a high-profile crackdown in this battle-scarred city Sunday, erecting scores of checkpoints and raiding houses in search of insurgents responsible for hundreds of deaths in recent weeks. But as Operation Lightning started, violence continued in Baghdad and on its outskirts. The first of more than 40,000 soldiers and police deployed to Baghdad's streets early Sunday for Operation Lightning, erecting scores of checkpoints on the southern and northern outskirts of the city. Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops, searched hundreds of vehicles in a bid to curb a raging insurgency that has killed more than 700 people since Iraq's new Shiite-led government was announced April 28, according to an AP count. "We set up these checkpoints in order to arrest all those insurgents trying to destroy this country and we will hit them with an iron fist," said Iraqi army Sgt. Ali al-Khazali while manning a highway checkpoint in southern Baghdad's Dora neighborhood.Iraqi soldiers and police raided several houses, described as "terrorist dens" in Dora, arresting several suspects, according to army Capt. Ihssan Abdel-Hamza. Iraqi security forces will erect 675 checkpoints along with mobile checkpoints to try to deter assailants around the city and in areas where attacks are frequent, and begin street-to-street sweeps. Baghdad will be divided into two sectors, Karkh on the west bank of the Tigris river that separates the city, and Risafa on the east. Karkh would be divided into 15 sub-districts and Risafa into seven sub-districts. Police and emergency personnel will operate in Baghdad 24 hours a day. Laith Kuba, spokesman to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said the government expected insurgents to challenge the crackdown by trying to launch more attacks. "With the escalating operations by security forces, we expect such reactions coming to the surface, but this will have no affect on the operations," Kuba said during a press conference. Posted by: Fred 2005-05-29 |
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