BAGHDAD — Extremists fired an explosive barrage yesterday into Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone, targeting the heart of America’s diplomatic and military mission in Iraq.
The US military said there were no injuries from the early morning volley, that could be heard all around downtown Baghdad. The earth-jarring detonations, nearly 10 of them, even shook buildings across the Tigris River from capital’s fortified core — which house the US Embassy, military facilities and the Iraqi government.
The attack came shortly before Brig. Gen. Mike Milano, a top US military official tasked with restoring security to Baghdad, said that nearly 80 percent of the capital’s districts were now considered free of organized extremist activity.
The strikes were the most recent involving what Maj. Brad Leighton, a US military spokesman, described as indirect fire — the military’s term for a rocket or mortar attack.
Overall Drop in Violence
In an upbeat assessment, Milano said a yearlong operation by the US military and Iraqi security forces to bring safety to the capital had improved the situation.
According to Milano, when the operation began only 20 percent of Baghdad’s 479 districts were relatively free of organized violence. “Today 78 percent of the districts are considered free of organized extremist activities,” said Milano, who is the deputy commanding general of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division. He added that since June 2007 there had been a 75 percent decrease in attacks in Baghdad, a 90 percent decrease in civilian casualties and an 85 percent decrease in murders.
Baghdad, however, remains far from safe and the Iraqi military yesterday indefinitely banned all hand-pushed and horse-drawn carts from the streets of Baghdad. The decision came after a bomb hidden under a horse-drawn cart exploded in downtown Baghdad on Friday, killing three civilians.
Alleged Al-Qaeda Members Killed
In the latest clashes with Al-Qaeda, Iraqi security forces reported killing 11 alleged members of the group during operations just north of Baghdad yesterday and Saturday.
The first operation took place yesterday near the city of Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, and killed eight members of Al-Qaeda. Among those killed was a man identified as Abu Talha Al-Arabi, a regional leader, the police said. Police said two others were killed late Friday near the town of Samarra as they planted a roadside bomb, while an Al-Qaeda area leader was killed yesterday near Samarra, 95 kilometers north of Baghdad.
Separately, the head of the Iraqi Journalists Union was shot and wounded yesterday. Shihab Al-Timimi was attacked by unidentified gunmen as he was being driven to an art gallery in Waziriya, near central Baghdad, police and union officials said.
