Iraqi and Untied States forces clashed with Shi’ite militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as they launched a major operation at dawn on Friday to return the volatile city of Diwaniya to government control.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a truck bomb killed at least 15 people and spewed chlorine gas into the air, Iraqi police Colonel Tareq al-Dulaimi said, in the latest in a string of attacks involving the poisonous chemical. Another police captain said five people were killed.
An Iraqi security source said Iraqi and US troops fought militiamen in districts in southeast Diwaniya, a stronghold of al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army, accused by Washington of driving Iraq towards civil war through attacks on Sunni Muslims. A local hospital said at least one person had been killed and 15 wounded.
”Iraqi army soldiers swept into the city of Diwaniya early this morning [Friday] to disrupt militia activity and return security and stability of the volatile city back to the government of Iraq,” the US military said in a statement.
The Iraqi government said this week it was extending Operation Imposing Law, a major security crackdown in Baghdad aimed at curbing rampant sectarian bloodshed that threatens civil war, to areas outside the capital.
The United States regards al-Sadr, a key political ally of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and his Mehdi Army militia as the greatest threat to peace in Iraq.
The Mehdi Army is a powerful force in Diwaniya, 180km south of Baghdad, where US and Iraqi forces have fought militiamen in past months. Forty people were killed in fierce fighting in street battles in October.
Thirteen Iraqi soldiers were summarily executed when they ran out of ammunition and were captured during a firefight with Shi’ite militiamen in the town last August. The incident prompted questions about the capabilities of the new Iraqi army.
While the operation has succeeded in reducing the death rate in Baghdad, there has been an explosion of violence elsewhere. The Iraqi government says militants forced out of the city have turned other areas into new ”killing fields”.
Police stay at home
The Iraqi security source told Reuters that all police in Diwaniya, who are suspected of being infiltrated by Mehdi Army militia, had been ordered to stay at home.
”There were clear instructions for local police not to report to work today. The security forces are from outside the city,” the source told Reuters.
Residents said a curfew had been imposed and that troops were blocking streets and conducting house-to-house searches.
”Instead of showing instability and bowing to intimidation, the Iraqi government and its security forces have taken action and boldly responded to the militia threat,” the military statement said, quoting Colonel Michael Garret, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division in the area.
Some residents welcomed the operation and said the militias have been ruling the city through fear.
”It is good they have started this operation because we have been living in fear recently. We could not go out after dark or allow our children to go outside on their own,” said Ali Hassan (45) a worker with seven children.
”Even though this operation means I will not be able to work and bring food to my family, at least I will have security.”
In Ramadi, capital of the western Anbar province, heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency, Colonel Tareq Dulaimi said the truck bomb targeted a police patrol, killing 15 people and wounding at least 30 more. Several were choking from the gas.
Police Captain Louay Dulaimi, from a police station in the area where the explosion took place, put the death toll at five, with 15 wounded, including four policemen.
There has been a spate of chlorine truck bomb attacks in recent months, mainly in Anbar. US commanders and Iraqi police have blamed al-Qaeda militants for several of the attacks. – Reuters 2007