BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi troops were out in force and cars were backed up at checkpoints Wednesday in Baghdad as a deadly car bomb killed four people and clashes broke out in two Sunni Arab strongholds shortly after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a major security crackdown aimed at ending the violence that has devastated the capital.
Tens of thousands of Iraq police and soldiers deployed throughout the capital of six million people, searching cars and securing roads into and out of Baghdad.
Despite the stepped up security measures, a parked car bomb struck the northern district of Qahira Wednesday morning, killing at least four civilians and wounding six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said.
Defense Minister Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim said that 80 percent of the operations staged by "terrorists and organized crime" target civilians. He added that 15 percent are against Iraqi security forces and 5 percent are against coalition forces. He did not provide comparative figures or any other details.
Clashes broke out in the northern Sunni district of Azamiyah shortly before noon, with heavy exchanges of gunfire sending residents scurrying for cover. The clashes took place near the Grand Imam Abu Hanifa mosque, the holiest Sunni Muslim shrine in Iraq. There were reports of casualties or other details.
Most stores were closed in Azamiyah and mostly Sunni Dora, two strongholds of the insurgency. Entire streets in Dora, southern Baghdad, were deserted, including al-Moalemeem road, dubbed "death road" by residents because of the frequent clashes there between Sunni insurgents and security forces and sectarian killings.
In Baghdad's central and mainly Shiite Karradah district, where a series of deadly car bombs took place in the past week, Iraqi army troops patrolled on foot. Some were deployed at main intersections in pickup trucks with machine-guns mounted on their roofs.
U.S. troops patrolled parts of Baghdad in convoys of up to four humvees. They used the more heavily armored Bradley fighting vehicles in Dora.
Traffic was heaviest in areas where security forces were deployed in large numbers, erecting checkpoints behind coils of barbed wire and forcing traffic to one lane. They also conducted random searches of vehicles.
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Well hopefully we have turned a point in Iraq, the government is taking shape and only time will tell if they are able to control and police the country. With these giant sweeps of Baghdad the government will root out some of the problem they have in the city. Just let our troops loose and believe me they will take control of that country and shut it down. We are not doing all we can, our troops are the best in the world let them show us!
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2 comments:
I will have to stand with you on your critique of this news. I feel the same way and always have. We will always have to maintain some type presence over there, and if we pull out way too soon then eventually it was all for not.
I think we are doing ALL we can, because of the civilian PC leadership.
If as you say "let the troops show it" This war would be over already.
Good take on in RWG
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