75,000 troops in Baghdad security crackdown

Iraq’s prime minister has set in motion the biggest security crackdown in Baghdad since the US-led invasion, with 75,000 Iraqi and US troops to deploy across the capital from today.

Prime minister Nouri Maliki also announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show “no mercy” to terrorists six days after al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US airstrike north-east of Baghdad. The government did not say how long the crackdown would last.

The operation, which army officials said was dubbed Operation Forward Together, came as radical anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr planned a demonstration today in Baghdad to protest against US President George Bush’s surprise visit to the capital.

Iraqis were met with increased checkpoints causing some traffic jams as they drove to work in the capital, and there were fewer vehicles circulating on the streets.

An Iraqi army official said two divisions had been deployed, which would be about 20,000 soldiers, along with some 50,000 Interior Ministry forces.

Bush’s visit yesterday was seen by many as a boost for Maliki, who is seeking to build momentum after al-Zarqawi’s death and the appointment of defence and interior ministers following weeks of political stalemate.

Al-Zarqawi’s successor, identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, vowed to defeat “crusaders and Shiites” in Iraq and said “holy warriors” in the country were stronger than ever, according to an internet statement posted yesterday – the first from the new leader.

Underlining the threat, explosions struck oil-rich Kirkuk, killing at least 16 people. Kirkuk police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader said the attacks in the city 180 miles north of Baghdad were believed to be “a reaction to avenge the killing of al-Zarqawi”.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has been increasingly focusing its attacks on Baghdad rather than on US targets in western Iraq.

Security officials said 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces would be deployed throughout Baghdad today, securing roads in and out of the city, establishing more checkpoints, launching raids against insurgent hideouts and calling in airstrikes if necessary.

“Baghdad is divided according to geographical area, and we know the al-Qaida leaders in each area,” said Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry.

The operation was to be the biggest of its kind in Baghdad since the US handed over sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004, al-Gharrawi said.

“The terrorists cannot face such power,” said Iraqi army Brig. Jalil Khalaf.

Al-Gharrawi warned that insurgents were likely to step up their attacks.

“We are expecting clashes will erupt in the predominantly Sunni areas,” he said. “The terrorists will escalate their violence especially during the first week as revenge for the killing of al-Zarqawi.”

Civilians have also complained of random violence and detentions by Iraqi forces, especially the police, which are widely believed to have been infiltrated by so-called sectarian death squads.

Al-Gharrawi said there were plans for a single uniform to distinguish legitimate forces in the coming days.

“There will be a special uniform with special badges to be put on the vehicles as a sign that it belongs to our forces,” he said.

Maliki’s plan additionally includes banning personal weapons and implementing a 9pm to 6am curfew, which previously had begun at 11pm The new curfew was expected to begin on Friday.

Maliki said in his news conference that the plan “will provide security and confront the terrorism and … enable Iraqis to live in peace in Baghdad”.

“The raids during this plan will be very tough … because there will be no mercy toward those who show no mercy to our people,” he said in a statement.

The Iraqi army launched a similar crackdown dubbed Operation Lightning in May 2005, deploying more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by American troops and air support. However, violence continued to spike and many Sunnis were alienated by the heavy-handed tactics concentrating on their neighbourhoods.

The extended curfew is expected to curtail what few social activities Baghdad’s six million residents have left – including shopping and buying bread. But those activities were already restricted in many neighbourhoods where the streets are not safe at night. People are very likely to shoot strangers on sight after dark.

The attacks in Kirkuk began at 7.45am when a parked car containing a bomb exploded near a police patrol in the city center, killing 10 people, including two policemen, said Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir. Nine people were wounded.

Some 30 minutes later, guards fired on a suspected suicide car bomber trying to pass through a checkpoint at the Kirkuk police directorate. The car exploded, killing five people, including two policemen, and wounding six, Qadir said.

Another suspected suicide car bomber in Kirkuk tried to hit a Kurdish political office at 8.30am, but guards opened fire on that car, and it exploded, said police Col. Taieb Taha. Three civilians were wounded.

A suicide car bomber targeted a police patrol south of Kirkuk more than an hour later near an institute for the disabled. The explosion killed a driver nearby and wounded six.

At least 26 other violent deaths were rported yesterday.

Defence Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed said 761 attacks killed 263 civilians and wounded 301 others last week, from Friday to Saturday, while 78 terror suspects were killed and 584 detained.

So far in 2006, at least 3,829 Iraqi civilians and at least 754 Iraqi security forces have been killed in war-related violence. For the same time period, at least 4,577 Iraqi civilians and at least 749 Iraqi security forces have been wounded. These numbers do not include insurgents.

There have been at least 335 coalition troop deaths in 2006; of these at least 312 have been US military.

The presence of US troops in Iraq is considered a greater threat to Mideast stability than the current government in Iran, according to a new poll of European and Muslim countries.

The poll found that people in Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Russia rated the presence of troops in Iraq higher than the government in Iran as a threat, according to polling by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press.

Views of US troops in Iraq were even more negative in countries like Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan.