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Iraqi leaders set to begin major security crackdown

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 14, 2006

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister set in motion the biggest security crackdown in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion, with 75,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops to deploy across the strife-prone capital starting today.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show no mercy to terrorists six days after al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad. The government did not say how long the crackdown would last.

Security officials said 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces would be deployed throughout Baghdad today, securing roads in and out of the city, establishing more checkpoints, launching raids against insurgent hideouts and calling in airstrikes if necessary.

"Baghdad is divided according to geographical area, and we know the al-Qaida leaders in each area," said Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry.

The operation was to be the biggest of its kind in Baghdad since the U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004, Gharrawi said.

"The terrorists cannot face such power," Iraqi army Brig. Jalil Khalaf said.

Gharrawi said insurgents were likely to step up their attacks.

Civilians have also made allegations of violence and detentions by Iraqi forces, especially the police, which some reports allege have been infiltrated by so-called sectarian death squads.

Gharrawi said there were plans for a single uniform to distinguish legitimate forces.

Maliki's plan also includes banning personal weapons and implementing a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, which previously had begun at 11 p.m. The new curfew was expected to begin Friday.

The extended curfew is expected to curtail what few social activities Baghdad's 6-million residents have left - including shopping and buying food. But those activities were already restricted in many neighborhoods where the streets are not safe at night. People are likely to shoot strangers on sight after dark.

Other developments

n Explosions struck Kirkuk, killing at least 16 people Tuesday. The attacks began when a parked car containing a bomb exploded near a police patrol in the city center, killing 10 people, including two police officers, Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said. Nine people were wounded. Also, guards fired on a suspected suicide car bomber trying to pass through a checkpoint at the Kirkuk police directorate. The car exploded, killing five people, including two police officers, and wounding six, Qadir said. Another suspected suicide car bomber in Kirkuk tried to hit a Kurdish political office at 8:30 a.m., but guards opened fire on that car, and it exploded, police Col. Taieb Taha said. Three civilians were wounded.

n The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq vowed to avenge Zarqawi's death and threatened attacks "in the coming days," according to a Web statement Tuesday, the first from the new terrorist leader. "Don't be overcome with joy about killing our sheik Abu Musab, God bless his soul, because he has left lions behind him," it said. A man identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Muhajer has succeeded Zarqawi as leader.

n The judge declared an end to the defense phase of Saddam Hussein's trial Tuesday, shrugging off protests from the former Iraqi leader's lawyers that they have not had a fair chance to present their case and want to put more witnesses on the stand. The nearly 8-month-old trial now moves into closing arguments, with the prosecution starting Monday, followed by the defense July 10. Judges could call a recess as early as mid July to consider verdicts in the case against Hussein and seven of his former regime members.

n The presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is considered a greater threat to Mideast stability than the current government in Iran, according to a new poll of European and Muslim countries. The poll found that people in Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Russia rated the presence of troops in Iraq higher than the government in Iran as a threat, according to polling by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

[Last modified June 14, 2006, 07:20:41]