Baghdad Security Operations Expanding, Says Coalition Spokesman
14 September 2006
Militants continue targeting civilians living outside capitals' protected areas
Washington – As the “Operation Together Forward” initiative – planned and led by Iraqis -- to reduce insurgent attacks in Baghdad’s most violent neighborhoods is expanding its focus, a recent spike in violence outside these areas shows that much work remains for Iraqi security forces and their coalition allies.
While the number of violent incidents have fallen in Baghdad’s Dura, Amiriyah, Ghazalia, Shula and Adhamiya neighborhoods, citywide implementation of the Baghdad security plan will take several more months of sustained effort, U.S. Army Major General William Caldwell, spokesman for Multi-National Force – Iraq, told journalists at a September 14 Baghdad press briefing.
So far, Iraqi and coalition forces have searched 52,000 buildings in these neighborhoods, he said, seizing 32 weapon caches and more than 1,200 illegal weapons and detaining 91 individuals with suspected in links to insurgents, terrorism or sectarian violence. (See related article.)
To keep violence from returning to these neighborhoods, Iraqi and coalition forces conducted 10 combat operations centered in southwest Baghdad in the past week, he said, seizing 24 suspected perpetrators of the ongoing violence between Iraq’s Sunni and Shi’a communities.
Caldwell announced that Iraqi and coalition forces now are expanding security operations into three more neighborhoods: Risalah, Khadra and Shaab.
Outside the protected areas, more than 100 Iraqis have been killed or wounded in recent days causing Iraqi and coalition forces to redouble their efforts to help bring these levels down, particularly with Ramadan starting on September 23. "As we approach Ramadan, we know there is generally an increase in violence, and the government of Iraq has ongoing plans to address this," Caldwell said.
FORCES CAPTURE ASSOCIATE OF AL-QAIDA IN IRAQ LEADER
Caldwell also reported that Iraqi and coalition forces captured a key al-Qaida operative September 12 and 70 other terror suspects in a series of 25 raids in and around Baghdad. (See related article.)
Caldwell declined to identify the suspect beyond describing him as a close associate of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyoub al-Masri, the Egyptian explosives expert who took over the network following the death of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a coalition air strike in June. (See related article.)
The spokesman said the suspect was “the leader of assassination, kidnapping and IED [improvised explosive device] cells in Baghdad,” who was “known to have directly participated in numerous terrorist acts” contributing to sectarian violence throughout the city, and was involved in terrorist activities in Fallujah in the months before coalition operations in the city in November 2004.
A transcript of Caldwell’s briefing is available from the Multi-National Force – Iraq Web site.
For more information, see Iraq Update.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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