More than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by US troops and air support, will set up hundreds of checkpoints, raid houses and search vehicles as part of Operation Lightning, Iraqi's interior and defense ministers announced Thursday.
Meanwhile, two US soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down and crashed in central Iraq, the military said Friday, as the government announces a massive crackdown against insurgents in Baghdad.
US investigators are probing Thursday's mishap involving a two-seater OH-58 Kiowa helicopter that crashed near Buhriz, a former Saddam stronghold about 60km north of Baghdad.
Iraqi authorities are preparing to launch the largest show of force since Saddam's ouster in the capital in a bid to curb the rampant insurgency, which has killed more than 650 people since the country's new government was announced April 28.
In a reminder of the deadly insurgency, violence claimed at least 15 lives Thursday across Iraq, including a car bomb blast in northern Baghdad's Shula neighborhood that killed five people, including three police.
Army official Sadiq Jaafar said yesterday that police raided two Baghdad homes overnight and detained four suspects, including three brothers, over the Shula bombing, which also wounded 17 people, said army Staff Brigadier Sadiq Jaafar.
Another ambush targeting a police patrol, this time in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killed one policeman and a bystander caught in the crossfire yesterday, said police Brigadier Saeed Ahmed.
The policeman was killed in a car bomb blast targeting his patrol, while gunbattles that broke out between police and insurgents left an Iraqi civilian dead, Ahmed said. Five police were wounded.
American authorities are investigating the killing of three Iraqis who died when US soldiers shot at their van in southeastern Baghdad on Thursday, military spokesman Master Sergeant Greg Kaufman said.
The military said small arms fire forced the Kiowa helicopter to crash, while another returned to base safely despite being hit, said Harper.
The armed US reconnaissance helicopters were flying in support of combat operations in Buhriz. The slain soldiers were with Task Force Liberty, under the command of the Tikrit-based 42nd Infantry Division.
Iraqi authorities did not say how long Operation Lightning would last, and it was uncertain if the Iraq security services are capable of mounting a sustained operation.
Iraq has 89,400 security personnel, including commando units, with Interior Ministry, according to the US military. The figure may include some deserters. Another 75,800 forces are in the military, mostly the army.
"We will establish, with God's help, an impenetrable blockade surrounding Baghdad like a bracelet surrounds a wrist," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi said.
Baghdad will be divided into two sectors, Karkh on the west bank of the Tigris river that separates the city, and Risafa on the east. Karkh will be split into 15 sub-districts and Risafa into seven. Security forces will operate 24 hours a day.
Northwest of Baghdad, in the city of Haditha, more than 1,000 US troops continued a sweep for insurgents responsible for attacks against coalition troops. They ordered at least one airstrike Thursday against a suspected militant position. At least 11 insurgents and one Marine have been killed since Operation New Market began Wednesday.
Some of the insurgents in Haditha are believed loyal to Iraq's most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose fate has been the subject of intense discussions this week from Baghdad to the Internet to Washington.
The Iraqi interior and defense ministers said Thursday the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been wounded, confirming several Internet statements making the same claim this week.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS