July 16, 2009 10:52 AM
- Text
Iraqi Troops Move Into Sadr City
(CBS/AP)
Thousands of Iraqi troops moved unchallenged into Baghdad's Sadr City Tuesday to seize the Shiite militia stronghold, in the largest attempt yet by the government to impose control, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
The large Iraq force backed by tanks entered the sprawling district before dawn, with troops taking up positions on street corners and deploying on rooftops as Iraqi Humvees patrolled the streets, residents said.
The move is the strongest attempt yet by the government to impose control over the district, which has long been the unquestioned bastion of the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to al-Sadr. Iraqi and U.S. troops have in the past largely stayed on the neighborhood's edges.
The district erupted into violence in early April after an Iraqi offensive against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra, and for weeks has been the scene of skirmishes between militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the troops were deploying in the district as part of a fragile truce reached last week between al-Sadr and the government. So far, there has been no violence in the deployment, code-named "Operation Peace," he said.
"The government chose the approach of preventing bloodshed, and entered the city to coordinate with the representatives of the Sadr movement, to achieve stability and security, impose the rule of law and offer service," he told reporters in Baghdad.
Al-Moussawi said three brigades with about 10,000 troops were involved in the deployment. He and the U.S. military said American troops were participating, though al-Moussawi said U.S. forces were nearby in case their support was needed.
The deal signed by the Sadrists and Iraq's main Shiite political bloc took effect on May 11, calling for a cease-fire that would allow Iraqi forces to take over security in Sadr City. It prohibited any attack against residential areas, government offices and the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which had faced steady rocket and mortar fire.
But the Sadrists rejected calls by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to surrender weapons, saying Mahdi fighters have no "medium or heavy weapons."
Under the compromise, Iraqi forces promised to try to refrain from seeking American help to restore order. U.S. military officials said they would follow the Iraqis' lead.
The agreement gave a timeframe of gaining control as early as last Wednesday, but the Iraqis apparently needed more time to clear roadside bombs from the area along with other preparations.
In other developments:
U.S. President George W. Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for an American sniper's use of a copy of the Quran for target practice, according to a statement Tuesday. The White House's press secretary said Mr. Bush spoke to al-Maliki and expressed his "serious concern." The U.S. military said Sunday it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used Islam's holy book for target practice May 9.
Suspected Sunni insurgents on Monday ambushed a minibus carrying Iraqi police recruits near the Syrian border, killing all 11 passengers, in the first deadly attack since Iraqi forces launched a major sweep against al Qaeda fighters in the region. The assault - the deadliest by insurgents on police in months - left the minibus riddled with bullets, with most of the recruits' bodies still inside, in the desert west of the northern city of Mosul, where the crackdown has been centered.
Iraqi officials said earlier Monday they had arrested a man suspected of being al Qaeda in Iraq's chief leader in Mosul. The U.S. military said it was looking into the report. Reports of high-level al Qaeda in Iraq arrests in the past have sometimes proven inaccurate. Maj. Gen. Ahmed Taha, of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, identified the detainee as the terror group's "wali" - or "governor" - in Mosul, a title which would make him its top figure in the city and the Ninevah province where it is located.
The Iraqi forces in vehicles and on foot rolled into Sadr City down streets with burned out shops and buildings pockmarked with gunfire - the signs of the years of violence and clashes with U.S.-Iraqi forces that have plagued the district of some 2 million people.
Iraqi soldiers also found a large weapons cache on the grounds of the Shaaroofi mosque Monday in the Shaab district, a Shiite militia stronghold that is adjacent to Sadr City, according to a U.S. military statement.
The find included eight armor-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, seven rocket-propelled grenades as well as other munitions and documents detailing kidnappings and murders, the military said.
The military said U.S. soldiers did not deploy around the mosque to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities.
The Sadr City operation is the latest by al-Maliki's government aimed at imposing control over areas dominated by armed groups. Besides the April sweep in Basra, Iraqi forces have been conducting a crackdown for more than a week in the northern city of Mosul, aimed at uprooting al Qaeda in Iraq fighters and other Sunni insurgents.
Insurgents, meanwhile, targeted members of U.S.-allied Sunni groups that have turned against al Qaeda in the volatile Diyala province.
Four anti-al Qaeda fighters were killed by gunmen in an ambush near Duluiyah, north of Baghdad, and a 7-year-old boy was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the house of the head of the so-called awakening council in Mandali, east of the capital.
Elsewhere in Diyala, shells slammed into the center of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding nine others.
A bomb also exploded inside a minibus in Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding five others.
The large Iraq force backed by tanks entered the sprawling district before dawn, with troops taking up positions on street corners and deploying on rooftops as Iraqi Humvees patrolled the streets, residents said.
The move is the strongest attempt yet by the government to impose control over the district, which has long been the unquestioned bastion of the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to al-Sadr. Iraqi and U.S. troops have in the past largely stayed on the neighborhood's edges.
The district erupted into violence in early April after an Iraqi offensive against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra, and for weeks has been the scene of skirmishes between militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the troops were deploying in the district as part of a fragile truce reached last week between al-Sadr and the government. So far, there has been no violence in the deployment, code-named "Operation Peace," he said.
"The government chose the approach of preventing bloodshed, and entered the city to coordinate with the representatives of the Sadr movement, to achieve stability and security, impose the rule of law and offer service," he told reporters in Baghdad.
Al-Moussawi said three brigades with about 10,000 troops were involved in the deployment. He and the U.S. military said American troops were participating, though al-Moussawi said U.S. forces were nearby in case their support was needed.
The deal signed by the Sadrists and Iraq's main Shiite political bloc took effect on May 11, calling for a cease-fire that would allow Iraqi forces to take over security in Sadr City. It prohibited any attack against residential areas, government offices and the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which had faced steady rocket and mortar fire.
But the Sadrists rejected calls by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to surrender weapons, saying Mahdi fighters have no "medium or heavy weapons."
Under the compromise, Iraqi forces promised to try to refrain from seeking American help to restore order. U.S. military officials said they would follow the Iraqis' lead.
The agreement gave a timeframe of gaining control as early as last Wednesday, but the Iraqis apparently needed more time to clear roadside bombs from the area along with other preparations.
In other developments:
The Iraqi forces in vehicles and on foot rolled into Sadr City down streets with burned out shops and buildings pockmarked with gunfire - the signs of the years of violence and clashes with U.S.-Iraqi forces that have plagued the district of some 2 million people.
Iraqi soldiers also found a large weapons cache on the grounds of the Shaaroofi mosque Monday in the Shaab district, a Shiite militia stronghold that is adjacent to Sadr City, according to a U.S. military statement.
The find included eight armor-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, seven rocket-propelled grenades as well as other munitions and documents detailing kidnappings and murders, the military said.
The military said U.S. soldiers did not deploy around the mosque to avoid offending Islamic sensibilities.
The Sadr City operation is the latest by al-Maliki's government aimed at imposing control over areas dominated by armed groups. Besides the April sweep in Basra, Iraqi forces have been conducting a crackdown for more than a week in the northern city of Mosul, aimed at uprooting al Qaeda in Iraq fighters and other Sunni insurgents.
Insurgents, meanwhile, targeted members of U.S.-allied Sunni groups that have turned against al Qaeda in the volatile Diyala province.
Four anti-al Qaeda fighters were killed by gunmen in an ambush near Duluiyah, north of Baghdad, and a 7-year-old boy was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the house of the head of the so-called awakening council in Mandali, east of the capital.
Elsewhere in Diyala, shells slammed into the center of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding nine others.
A bomb also exploded inside a minibus in Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding five others.
Popular Now in World
- Iran allegedly cuts off Internet access
- Pakistani fishermen reel in 40-foot whale shark
- Iran: We can attack U.S. interests "anywhere"
- "Voluptuous" Ukrainian nurse abandons Qaddafi
- Booze and bikinis in a new Egypt
- Girl with Two Heads Born in Philippines
- Israel To U.S.: Don't Delay Iraq Attack
- Cockpit error sent 737 into Pacific nose dive
- Syria rebels bloodied, battered, but defiant
- 23 women convicted of child pornography in Sweden
- Stephen Hawking: Heaven is "a fairy story"
- GlobalPost: Qaddafi apparently sodomized
- 130 Doctors Without Borders staff go missing
- Syria's Christians stand by Assad
- Greek Cruise Ship Sinks
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- Fashion Week trends: Military looks and drama
- AP NewsAlert
- 'Phantom of the Opera' marking 10,000 shows in NYC
- Rachel Zoe collection: Rock-star girlfriend look
on Facebook
- Adele sings a cappella for Anderson Cooper
- Occupy protestors kicked out of CPAC
- CPAC: Will Sarah Palin spring a surprise?
- Beyonce and Jay-Z post first photos of Blue Ivy Carter
on CBS News
