DIWANIYAH, Iraq, 7 April 2007 — Iraqi and US soldiers launched a massive security crackdown targeting militias in the central city of Diwaniyah yesterday amid clashes that left one dead, officials said. Security forces slapped a curfew on the city from 0100 GMT with only Iraqi and US troops, armored vehicles and militiamen visible on the streets while American helicopters circled overhead, an AFP reporter said.
“Iraqi Army troops swept into the city in the early morning hours April 6 to disrupt militia activity and return security and stability here back to the government of Iraq,” the US military announced in a statement. “Soldiers of the 8th Iraqi army division supported by soldiers and paratroopers from multinational division Baghdad began Operation Black Eagle at approximately 6:30 a.m. (0230 GMT),” it added.
The operation came two days after Iraq said a massive crackdown launched in Baghdad eight weeks ago was being extended to other flash point areas. “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,” said US Col. Michael Garrett.
Clashes left one person dead and 19 others wounded yesterday, said Hamid Gaati, head of the local department of health, and a security official. Gaati accused US forces of preventing ambulances from transporting the wounded to hospital, and urged humanitarian organizations to bring casualties in for treatment.
At least 1,400 Iraqi soldiers arrived from neighboring towns such as Kut, Babel and Najaf to raid gunmen’s hide-outs in Al-Askari, Al-Jumhuri and Al-Iskan in the northern parts of Diwaniyah, an Iraqi military officer said. All entrances to Diwaniyah were sealed off until further notice “to help us to carry out security plan Black Eagle to impose the law,” said an Iraqi security source in the city.
The Iraqi security source told Reuters that all police in Diwaniyah, 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 said. Residents said a curfew had been imposed and that troops were blocking streets and conducting house-to-house searches. “It is good they have started this operation because we have been living in fear recently,” said Ali Hassan, 45, a worker with seven children. “We could not go out after dark or allow our children to go outside on their own.”
An official in the local office of the movement of Moqtada Al-Sadr, who controls the Mehdi Army militia, confirmed that its fighters and US troops were clashing around Salim Street and Al-Askari. “Most of the clashes are in northern Diwaniyah and are because of the raids and arrests done by occupation forces against the Mehdi followers,” he said, adding that top members of Sadr’s movement were to meet in the city on Saturday.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a chlorine truck bomb killed at least five people and wounded 15, three police officers said of the latest attack involving the poisonous chemical. Iraqi police Col. Tareq Al-Dulaimi said 15 were killed. The government said this week it was extending Operation Imposing Law, a major security crackdown in Baghdad, to other cities. While the operation has succeeded in reducing the death rate in Baghdad, the government says militants forced out of the capital have turned other areas into new “killing fields.”
In Ramadi, Dulaimi said the chlorine truck bomb targeted a police patrol, killing 15 people and wounding at least 30 more. There has been a spate of chlorine truck bomb attacks in recent months, mainly in Anbar. Police in Basra indicated an explosion that destroyed a British armored fighting vehicle, killing four soldiers and a translator on Thursday, was caused by a new type of bomb.
