Helicopters flew over the Iraqi town of Ramadi and warplanes could be heard overhead as US troops hunted down insurgents in the rebel stronghold yesterday, a witness said.
He said seven tanks moved along Masarif Street and July 17 Street. Two explosions were heard but the cause was not clear.
Shops were shuttered and most residents stayed home, fearing a US offensive on the scale of the one that inflicted heavy destruction and loss of life in nearby Fallujah in 2004.
PHOTO: AP
The US military has played down talk of that type of campaign, saying the buildup was part of efforts to restore stability in Ramadi, 68km west of Baghdad.
Residents say US troops have not urged people to leave the town, the capital of Anbar Province, heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency seeking to topple the Shiite-led government.
US and Iraqi forces are setting up additional checkpoints and focusing on depriving rebels of positions used to launch attacks in the city, the military said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said he would try to restore stability in Ramadi through dialogue with tribal and community leaders and that force of the type used in Fallujah would only be a last resort.
But the people of Ramadi fear the worst.
"I can't open my shop. Everybody expects the Americans to invade the city. I already took most of the materials in my shop and hid them in my house because the Americans could shoot or burn my shop," said grocery shop owner Faisal Ghazi, 50.
Ramadi has emerged as the biggest hotspot in Iraq after a major US military offensive crushed al Qaeda militants and insurgents in Fallujah, a former rebel bastion.
Meanwhile, British Defense Minister Des Browne, on a previously unannounced visit to Iraq, said yesterday he was talking with Iraqi officials to impose a security plan similar to Baghdad's in Basra.
"I am here to discuss an equivalent plan for security in Basra," Browne said at a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
"That new security plan has a long-term aim to hand over security to army and police, accepting that there have to be reforms -- particularly to the aspect of the police service."
Maliki imposed a massive security clampdown in Baghdad nearly a week ago.
For the past six days, tens of thousands of US and Iraqi troops have been patrolling the capital's streets in an effort to halt spiralling Shiite-Sunni sectarian violence that has claimed many lives daily.
On May 31, Maliki declared a month-long state of emergency in Basra in response to the violence plaguing the main southern city.
"We are announcing this broad security mobilization for the next month and we hope through these negotiations we will gain control of this crisis," Maliki said during a visit to the British-patrolled city.
Some 7,200 British servicemen and women are currently deployed in southern Iraq and neighboring Kuwait.
In related news, the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and seven other defendants on charges of crimes against humanity resumed yesterday with the prosecution set to rest its case against the ousted Iraqi leader.
"In today's session, we will listen to the arguments of the prosecution and also hear the lawyers of the victims," chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman said at the start of the session.
The prosecutor went on to ask for the death penalty against Saddam and two of his top co-defendendants, saying in his closing arguments yesterday that the former Iraqi leader and his regime committed crimes against humanity in a "revenge" attack on Shiite civilians in the 1980s.
The arguments brought the trial into its final phase. After yesterday's session, the court adjourned until July 10, when the defense will begin making its final summation.
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