Iraq launches opening battle in drive to clear Baghdad of violence

Saturday, January 6th 2007, 3:12 pm

By: News On 6

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ In the opening battle of a major drive to tame the violent capital, the Iraqi army reported it killed 30 militants Saturday in a firefight in a Sunni insurgent stronghold just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking only hours earlier at a ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the Iraqi army, announced his intention for the open-ended attempt to crush the militant fighters who have left Baghdad in the grip of sectarian violence.

Hassan al-Suneid, a key aide and member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said the Iraqi leader had committed 20,000 soldiers to the operation and would call upon American troops and airpower only when needed.

A stern al-Maliki told the nation the operation in Baghdad would continue ``until all goals are achieved and security is ensured for all citizens.

``We are fully aware that implementing the plan will lead to some harassment for all beloved Baghdad residents, but we are confident they fully understand the brutal terrorist assault we all face,'' he said.

State television said eight militants, including five Sudanese fighters, were captured in the battle near Haifa Street, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on the west bank of the Tigris where police reported finding the bodies of 27 torture victims earlier in the day.

Al-Suneid, who is also a member of parliament, said the new drive would focus initially on Sunni insurgent strongholds in western Baghdad.

Sunnis were likely to object, given that a large measure of today's violence in Baghdad is the work of Shiite militias, loyal to al-Maliki's key political backer, the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

An Iraqi army general said commanders would operate independently, a sharp break with Iraqi military tradition of heavy central control, and would be held individually responsible for failure.

Any civilians carrying arms faced automatic detention, he said, and would be shot if they resisted, the general said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

Al-Suneid and al-Maliki insisted that this drive to contain militants, as opposed to a largely ineffective joint operation with the Americans in the second half of 2006, would succeed because it would be in the hands of Iraqi commanders who have been promised American backup and airpower if they call for it.

But U.S. political and military officials _ in a message of congratulation on Iraq's Army Day _ tempered Iraqi claims of full independence.

``As stated by the prime minister today, MNF-I (U.S. forces) will provide appropriate assistance as determined by Iraqi and coalition (American) field commanders, for the implementation of the new plan for securing Baghdad and its surrounding environs,'' said the statement from U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and overall American commander Gen. George W. Casey.

Al-Suneid said President Bush signed off on the plan when he and al-Maliki spoke by video conference Thursday. The two leaders began formulating the operation during a November summit in Amman, Jordan.

Bush was widely reported to be planning to send at least 9,000 additional American forces to the capital from outside Iraq as part of his long-awaited strategy revisions in the fourth year of a war in which more than 3,000 American troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi's have died.

Last summer the U.S. military and Iraqi army flooded the capital with 12,000 additional troops, but by October, the U.S. military spokesman said the operation had not met expectations and the situation was disheartening.

The last half of 2006 was one of the most violent periods in the center and west of the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. The U.S. death toll in the capital spiked with the presence of extra American troops on the street during Operation Together Forward II, which has been supplanted by the new Iraqi-dominated drive to cleanse the capital of militant fighters.

In the earlier drive, the Iraqi army failed to send much of the promised troop strength, making it impossible to secure neighborhoods after American forces cleared them of insurgent and militia fighters.

The Iraqi army general said Iraqi forces, while nominally operating independently, would rely heavily on American support.

Bush hopes to prove that the Iraqi military and security forces are capable of controlling violence by the end of the year, opening the way for an American withdrawal.

Al-Maliki, whose political survival depends heavily on al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, is eager to show his independence of American occupation forces. He wants the Americans to quickly turn over security control to Iraqi forces and withdraw to the outskirts of Baghdad and other cities, where they would be out of sight but could be called to action.

Military commanders said operations against the al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in its Sadr City stronghold would be left largely to a joint force made up of U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi Special Operations Command division under Brig. Gen. Fadhil Birwari, a Kurd. Soldiers in the division are a mixture of Kurds and Arabs from both the Sunni and Shiite sects.

The prime minister has repeatedly rejected U.S. demands to move against the Mahdi Army.

Violence surged in Iraq Saturday after a week of relative quiet. Police reported 97 people were killed or found dead, 80 of them assassination victims dumped in Mosul, Baghdad and south of the capital.