Clashes, car bomb as Iraq launches Baghdad sweep
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-14 20:17
Clashes broke out between insurgents and Iraqi security forces and a car bomb
killed at least two people in Baghdad on Wednesday as the government launched a
security clampdown to root out al Qaeda militants.
Iraqi demonstrators throw a tyre as they set
fire to a small entrance of Iran's consulate in Basra, 550 km (341 miles)
south of Baghdad June 14, 2006. A crowd of demonstrators chanted slogans
outside the consulate and set fire to a reception area of the building
during a protest against an Iranian satellite station, accusing it of
insulting a Shi'ite cleric in Iraq.
[Reuters] |
Gunmen carrying automatic rifles blocked roads with stones and tree trunks
and exchanged fire with Iraqi troops in Adhamiya, a Sunni insurgent stronghold
that is one of Baghdad's most dangerous areas, a Reuters reporter at the scene
said.
Civilians fled the area but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Three Iraqi army tanks were dispatched to Adhamiya. The clashes subsided later
on Wednesday.
In northern Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two people
and wounded seven. A Reuters photographer who was 10 meters (yards) from the
blast saw a man and a teenager burning amid wreckage after the bomb caused a big
fireball.
The clampdown, which included extra checkpoints and Iraqi security patrols
backed by tanks and armored vehicles, came a day after President Bush met new
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is under pressure to rein in violence.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have carried out several such operations in the past
but have failed to stem the bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands since
the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and pushed Iraq toward civil war.
Iraqi officials said the operation would involve more than 40,000 Iraqi and
U.S.-led forces as part of a sweep to put further pressure on al Qaeda in Iraq
following the killing of its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week in a U.S. air
strike.
In a surprise visit to Iraq, Bush, who faces low popularity ratings over a
war that has killed nearly 2,500 U.S. troops, told Maliki the fate and future of
Iraq was "in your hands."
"The decisions you and your cabinet make will determine as to whether or not
your country succeeds, can govern itself, can defend itself, can sustain
itself," Bush told Maliki, whose self-styled government of national unity took
office last month.
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