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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Insurgent attacks provoke crackdown |
| 2004-07-17 |
|  After two days of violence including deadly car bombings and attacks on Iraqi officials and oil installations, Iraq's interim prime minister on Thursday announced the creation of a new security service to target insurgents. The new service, the The violent insurgency that has wracked the country since the fall of Saddam's regime 15 months ago has continued since U.S. forces handed power over to Iraq's interim government. Since taking power, Allawi's government has made clear it intended to crack down on militants who have caused chaos with assassinations, bombings, sabotage and other attacks. The violence has hampered efforts to rebuild and recover after war and years of international sanctions. The government has passed emergency laws giving Allawi the power to declare curfews and impose limited martial law to curb the violence and has repeatedly threatened the militants. The new security service appears to be another step in the fledgling government's efforts to tackle the violence. In remarks published in the al-Hayat newspaper, Allawi was quoted as saying Iraq has arrested operatives linked to al Qaeda and is seeing increasing coordination between the terror network and Iraqi insurgents loyal to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |