United States and Iraqi forces killed 50 people on Tuesday in raids on a Sunni Arab district they described as riddled with ”terrorist hideouts” and a hotbed of insurgent activity by foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
As American helicopter gunships and ground attack jets kept up vigil over central Baghdad, Defence Ministry spokesperson Major General Ibrahim Shakir said 50 had been killed and 21 people arrested in the operation around Haifa Street, where officials have said more than 130 people have died since Saturday.
US and Iraqi forces clashed with gunmen, saying they came under fire from mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Battling growing sectarian violence, Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a major security plan for Baghdad on Saturday, vowing to crack down on violence on all sides, regardless of ”sect or political affiliation”.
It was not clear if the Haifa Street operation marked the start of the implementation of the plan, but it was the most sustained action by US and Iraqi troops in recent days. US President George Bush is set to unveil a new strategy in Iraq on Wednesday, expected to involve more US troops for Baghdad.
A spokesperson for the US military said it had no information on casualties on Haifa Street on Tuesday.
A US military statement said Iraqi and US forces started a joint operation early on Tuesday aimed at capturing suspected insurgents and restoring Iraqi security forces’ control.
”Unfortunately, Iraq has become a breeding ground for the terrorists and for … many Arabs who were brought by al-Qaeda here to kill Iraqis,” government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said.
”There are many terrorist hideouts in Haifa Street,” he told a news conference, adding that some suspects had been detained, including ”a great number of Arab nationals”.
”We’re going to clear this area and, God willing, Haifa Street will never threaten the Iraqi people again,” he said.
Operations
On Saturday police found the bodies of 27 people thought to be Shi’ites who had been seized and shot in the area. The Defence Ministry said on Monday it launched a two-day operation in the area, killing nearly 60 people on Saturday and Sunday.
It was not immediately clear if Tuesday’s raids were an extension of the earlier operation.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, a prominent Sunni Arab MP, said the operation had targeted civilians.
”It is a pretext that there are terrorists; they are poor and oppressed people,” Dulaimi told Reuters, adding that the operation was aimed at ”terrorising people to make them leave the country and allow militias …. to come in and spread chaos”.
Dabbagh reiterated Maliki’s pledge that the Baghdad security plan would make no distinction between Shi’ite militias and Sunni Arab groups involved in violence, vowing to crack down on ”terrorist groups …. whether in Sadr City or Jihad area”.
Sadr City is the stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, blamed by Sunni Arabs and Washington for operating death squads, while Jihad is a predominantly Sunni Arab area in south-west Baghdad.
Sadr’s political supporters are an influential bloc in the government and Maliki has so far struggled to fulfil pledges to crack down on the militia. Raids on Sadr City and other targets linked to Sadr’s movement in the past have sparked angry reactions and the government has distanced itself from them. — Reuters