Move to halt attacks in Baghdad blockade

THE Iraqi government said yesterday a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week in what it dubbed Operation Lightning.

It is aimed at halting a spree of insurgent violence that has killed more than 620 people this month.

At least 15 Iraqis died in violence nationwide, including a child killed during clashes between US forces and insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar. Among the dead were a university professor, slain in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, and three policemen killed in a car bombing in the capital. The military also said a US Marine died of wounds sustained a day earlier during the launch of an anti-insurgent offensive involving about 1,000 US troops in the western city of Haditha.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he could not give a firm date for the withdrawal of about 160,000 foreign troops, including 138,000 from the US, because Iraq’s police and army were not yet ready to take control of security.

“No country wants foreign troops on its soil. We want to see them leave, but the security of our country is the most important thing.”

Operation Lightning will involve about a quarter of the 165,200 Iraqis estimated by the Pentagon to be part of police and military forces. It will be followed by similar anti-terrorism moves across the country, part of an effort to shift the government stance toward the insurgency from a defensive to an offensive position, said Defence Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi.

“We will establish, with God’s help, an impenetrable blockade surrounding Baghdad like a bracelet surrounds a wrist,” Mr al-Duleimi said.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said there would be 675 fixed checkpoints, plus mobile ones, to try to deter assailants in areas where attacks are frequent and cars are often booby-trapped.

“You will witness unprecedented security measures,” he said.

The ministers said Baghdad would be divided into two sectors and 15 districts where police and emergency personnel would operate 24 hours a day.

“We will stand against anyone who tries to kill Iraqis and we will impose the law by adopting all tough measures,” Mr Jabr said.

A car bomb exploded in northern Baghdad near a police patrol, killing five people - three officers and two other Iraqis - and wounding 17, said police.

Separately, gunmen in a speeding car fired at a group of people driving to work in Baghdad’s southern Risala neighbourhood, killing four Iraqis, including a university professor and a translator working for the US military, said police.

A top Industry Ministry official, Samir Nima Ghaidan, was shot dead by gunmen while leaving his office in northern Baghdad, the army said. A packed minibus came under gunfire in south-eastern Baghdad, leaving three dead, and four wounded, police said.