Iraqi Security Forces Launch Baghdad Crackdown

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi security forces launched a high-profile crackdown in this battle-scarred city Sunday, erecting scores of checkpoints and raiding houses in search of insurgents responsible for hundreds of deaths in recent weeks. But as Operation Lightning started, violence continued in Baghdad and on its outskirts. At least 15 people were killed, including nine soldiers by gunmen who attacked a checkpoint in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of the capital.

One U.S. Marine was killed when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle Saturday near Haqlaniyah, 85 miles northwest of Baghdad, the military said in a statement Sunday.

A British soldier was killed Sunday and others injured when a British military convoy came under attack in southern Iraq, a Ministry of Defense spokesman said, adding the incident appeared to be the result of an explosion. He didn’t say how many troops were injured.

The first of more than 40,000 soldiers and police deployed to Baghdad’s streets early Sunday for Operation Lightning, erecting scores of checkpoints on the southern and northern outskirts of the city.

Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops, searched hundreds of vehicles in a bid to curb a raging insurgency that has killed more than 700 people since Iraq’s new Shiite-led government was announced April 28, according to an AP count.

"We set up these checkpoints in order to arrest all those insurgents trying to destroy this country and we will hit them with an iron fist," said Iraqi army Sgt. Ali al-Khazali while manning a highway checkpoint in southern Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood.

Iraqi soldiers and police raided several houses, described as "terrorist dens" in Dora, arresting several suspects, according to army Capt. Ihssan Abdel-Hamza.

Iraqi security forces will erect 675 checkpoints along with mobile checkpoints to try to deter assailants around the city and in areas where attacks are frequent, and begin street-to-street sweeps.

Baghdad will be divided into two sectors, Karkh on the west bank of the Tigris river that separates the city, and Risafa on the east. Karkh would be divided into 15 sub-districts and Risafa into seven sub-districts. Police and emergency personnel will operate in Baghdad 24 hours a day.

Laith Kuba, spokesman to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said the government expected insurgents to challenge the crackdown by trying to launch more attacks.

"With the escalating operations by security forces, we expect such reactions coming to the surface, but this will have no affect on the operations," Kuba said during a press conference.

In a sign of the insurgents’ resolve, a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the Iraqi Oil Ministry on Sunday, the ministry spokesman said. Two officials said at least two security guards were killed.

The blast happened at about 1:20 p.m. near the gate to the heavily fortified building in eastern Baghdad, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Gunmen killed two Iraqi police sergeants employed by the Iraqi Cabinet in a drive-by shooting Sunday in Dora, said police Capt. Firas Qaiti.

A suicide car bomber, apparently targeting a U.S. convoy, exploded his vehicle Sunday and killed two Iraqis and injured nine others in northern Iraq, said police Brig. Sarhat Qadir.

The attack happened near the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Tuz Khormato, south of Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, said Qadir.

Another two Iraqi police commandos were killed and five injured in a car bomb blast at 11 a.m. at Madain about 14 miles southeast of Baghdad, police Col. Selam Mehmood.

The U.S. military said Sunday that a roadside bomb attack in central Mosul a day earlier killed eight Iraqis, including three children, and wounded two.

The British soldier was killed during military operations in southern Iraq. Iraqi police Lt. Karim Lueibi said a British military convoy was attacked in the Kahla area, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Amarah, 290 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Lueibi said British forces sealed off the attack scene and a British helicopter arrived at the scene to evacuate an unspecified number of casualties.

The bulk of Britain’s 9,500-strong military deployment is based in southern Iraq, including at the main British headquarters in Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad. More than 80 British troops have been killed since the start of the Iraq war.