By Kim Gamel
The Associated Press, 13 June 2006
Iraq's new prime minister promised Tuesday to show "no mercy" to terrorists and said before President Bush arrived for a surprise visit that a long-awaited security plan for Baghdad will include a curfew and a ban on personal weapons.
Bush, who was expected to be in Baghdad for about five hours, met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss Iraq's next steps.
Security officials said tens of thousands of Iraqi and multinational forces would deploy Wednesday throughout Baghdad, securing roads, launching raids against insurgent hideouts and calling in airstrikes if necessary.
Underscoring the lack of security, a series of explosions struck the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 16 people.
Iraqi security forces planned to deploy 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces in Baghdad as part of al-Maliki's ambitious plan to crack down on security in the capital, a top Iraqi police official said.
Bush's visit came on the final day of a two-day work session aimed at keeping up the momentum generated by last week's swearing-in of key Iraqi national security officials, and the U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry, said al-Maliki's plan includes securing roads in and out of Baghdad, banning personal weapons and implementing a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew.
Al-Gharrawi told The Associated Press that the plan to be launched at 6 a.m. Wednesday would be the biggest operation of its kind in Baghdad since the U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq in 2004.
He warned insurgents were likely to step up activity ahead of the security crackdown and as revenge for al-Zarqawi's death. He said the ground forces could call in air cover if needed.
"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."
He also said; "Baghdad is divided according to geographical area and we know the al-Qaida leaders in each area."
Iraqis have 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, adding the prime minister would decide when to end the crackdown.
Iraqi army Brig. Jalil Khalaf also said the plan would include more checkpoints and raids against suspected insurgent hideouts.
"The terrorists cannot face such power," he said.
Al-Maliki said 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 news release distributed Tuesday.
The attacks in Kirkuk began at 7:45 a.m. when a parked car containing a bomb exploded near a police patrol in the city center, killing 10 people, including two policemen, Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said. Nine people were wounded.
Some 30 minutes later, guards opened fire on a suspected suicide car bomber trying to get 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 in the oil-rich city about 180 miles north of Baghdad at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, but guards opened fire on the car, and it exploded, police Col. Taieb Taha said. 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 the driver of a civilian car nearby and wounded six, Qadir said.
At least 20 other violent deaths were reported Tuesday, according to police.
More than 200 raids have been carried out since al-Zarqawi's death June 7, some directly connected to what the U.S. military has described as a "treasure trove" of intelligence gleaned from his safehouse. U.S. troops killed seven insurgents in a raid Monday that also killed two children not far from the U.S. bombing raid that killed al-Zarqawi.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, also said a "high-value individual" with a $50,000 price on his head was detained. He did not name the suspect, but said he was picked up based on a tip.
He said the killing of the two children in Monday's raid was "extremely unfortunate."
The raid came as insurgents escalated their attacks, killing more than 50 people across the country Monday in a bid to show they were not defeated after al-Zarqawi's death.
Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Patrick Quinn, Sameer N. Yacoub and Qais al-Bashir contributed to this report.
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Citation: Citation: Kim Gamel. "Baghdad security crackdown to begin Wed.," The Associated Press, 13 June 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060613/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_security_plan
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