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| Iraq |
| Tanks, troops rule Baghdad streets |
| 2007-02-06 |
| Iraqi and US forces yesterday prepared to launch a massive crackdown in Baghdad to end the sectarian carnage pushing Iraq toward civil war as at least another 30 people died in a surge of violence. The sustained bloodshed came after nearly 200 people were killed over the weekend, mostly in the war-torn capital. Iraqi forces on Monday stepped up security in some volatile districts on the eastern side of the Tigris river, which runs through Baghdad, an AFP photographer reported. Iraqi soldiers and National Guard police were deployed on Baghdad's main eastern highway leading to the Shia bastion of Sadr City, a repeated insurgent target, he said. Tanks and other armoured vehicles along with National Guard police were seen at various locations on the road to Sadr City and in districts such as Karrada. New control points were set up in the districts of Karrada, Rusafa, Mustansiriyah, Adhamiyah and Sadr City, all to the east of the Tigris. On some bridges, guard posts were protected by tanks and barbed wire as soldiers stopped and checked drivers, the photographer said. Thirteen bridges cross the Tigris river in Baghdad, but several have been sealed off to traffic. Access to Sadr City itself was controlled by a barrier manned by army soldiers and police commandos. Sadr City is the stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a Shia militia accused by the US military of leading the killing of Sunni Arabs in the chronic sectarian conflict in the capital. It was not clear however if the new measures were part of a long-awaited security crackdown. A senior Iraqi official, on condition of anonymity, said the security plan would be launched "in the next few days" after "the necessary security preparations have been completed". The US military also declined to be specific. "We continue to do operations as part of the plan in support of the (Iraqi) prime minister's goals to secure Baghdad," said spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver. "Operations have been going on." Garver said US military troop movement was continuing as per the needs of the plan. "We are in the process of moving troops here as announced by our president," he told AFP. |
| Posted by:Fred |