BAGHDAD — Iraq and the United States have identified and targeted
four insurgency strongholds in the current security operation in the Arab
capital.
Officials said an estimated 60,000 Iraqi and U.S. forces have targeted
four Baghdad neighborhoods regarded as the most violent in the city. They
cited Azamiyah, Dora, Ghazaliyah-Shula and Mansour as the focus of Operation
Forward Together, which began more than a month ago.
Dora is located in southwestern Baghdad and the scene of numerous
killings, reflecting both criminal and insurgency activities. Officials said
the joint Iraqi-U.S. operation has killed 25 insurgents and captured 200
suspects in Dora, Middle East Newsline reported.
Azamiyah, Mansour and Ghazaliyah-Shula have been targeted largely
because of ethnic violence. Azamiyah has also been regarded as an Al Qaida
stronghold.
Officials said the U.S. Army has deployed more than 32,000 troops in the
Baghdad province. About 13,000 were in the capital, they said, joined by
more
than 32,000 Iraqi police and security forces.
"We thought as recently as a month or so ago that we were going to be
able to come down [in numbers]," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said during a visit to Baghdad on Saturday. "What changed
was the increase in sectarian violence."
About 5,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops have been conducting a house-to-house
search for so-called death squads. Officials reported the capture of 60
members of an Al Qaida-aligned car bomb network.
Al Qaida has sent operatives to Baghdad from the northern part of the
country, officials said. The U.S. military said it captured a "new senior Al
Qaida" leader in Baji, about 200 kilometers from Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military plans to relay security responsibility
of southern Baghdad to the Iraq Army.
The U.S. military said it intends to hand over complete operational
control of Al Mahmoudiya to Iraqi commanders. Al Mahmoudiya is located in
southern Baghdad and regarded as a key Al Qaida insurgency stronghold.
Officials said on Sunday that the U.S. military would soon conduct a
ceremony to mark the handover. They did not specify.
"The problem is not so much how much combat power you have in a country,
it's more how is the governance going," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. "How are the people doing? What is getting
better about their economic situation, what is getting better about their
trust for each other?"
In July, Al Mahmoudiya was the target of attacks in which more than 100
civilians were killed in a combination of mortar and suicide car bombings.
The suburb has been located in what Iraqis deem the "Triangle of Death."
"We will need the intelligence, logistical and medical support," Iraqi
National Security Advisor Mouwafak Al Rubaie said. "Three years ago we had
absolutely nothing and now we have 10 divisions. Today 60 percent of
operations here are led, conducted, monitored and accessed by Iraqis."
U.S. troops operated over the weekend in Al Mahmoudiya, where they
recovered an Iraqi hostage and captured an insurgency cell leader. Officials
said the cell leader was linked to a July 17 attack on a market in the
suburb, which killed 40 Iraqis and injured another 70.
"This is the third top member of this violent and elusive terrorist cell
we have detained in recent weeks," Col. Todd Ebel, commander of 2nd Brigade,
101st Airborne Division, said.
The U.S. operation in the Baghdad area has also sought to prevent plans
by Iranian agents to conduct a coup against the government of Prime Minister
Nouri Al Maliki. On Sunday, U.S. troops arrested seven of the bodyguards of
Iraqi Health Minister Ali Al Shemari, a key supporter of Iran and close to
the Mahdi Army.
"There was no legal warrant," Al Shemari said. "There was no prior
warning to the ministry. There was no reason to arrest them. It is a
provocation."