BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi forces will expand their security operation into eastern Baghdad - including Shiite militia strongholds - the Defense Ministry said Friday.Defense Ministry spokesman Muhammad Al-Askari said security forces planned to expand in a matter of days into an area of eastern Baghdad that includes the neighborhoods targeted Thursday. The move is part of "Operation Together Forward," a security crackdown that targets the capital's most violent districts in phases and has seen an extra 12,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops deployed in the capital. "We have prepared everything, but we are waiting to mobilize the troops and prepare the special military units that will implement the raids," he said.
Sadr City, a stronghold of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, would also be included, al-Askari told The Associated Press.
| Let's hope Tater's tots now get well and truly thumped. |
| And I think he means it. |
The expanded security operation will begin in a week to 10 days, he said, adding that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would decide on the exact date.
Al-Askari said the first two phases of the operation, which included Sunni Arab districts, was successful. "The terrorists will not work in these districts any more, the terrorists are moving to suburbs of Baghdad, to districts that were not included in the first and second phases, to worsen the security situation there," he said.