Iraq's prime minister launched the biggest security crackdown in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion, with tens of thousands of security forces deploying throughout the capital on Wednesday.
But despite these moves clashes broke out between gunmen and Iraqi security forces and a car bomb killed at least two people in Baghdad. According to Reuters, gunmen carrying automatic rifles blocked roads with stones and tree trunks and exchanged fire with Iraqi troops in Adhamiya.
In northern Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two people and wounded seven.
Gunmen also shot dead an Iraqi journalist working for a newspaper accused of publishing U.S. propaganda in the western city of Fallujah, police said Wednesday. Ibrahim Seneid, an editor with the local al-Bashara newspaper, was killed late Tuesday in a drive-by shooting in the city, Fallujah police Lt. Mohammed Ali said.
The crackdown, which army officials said was dubbed Operation Forward Together, started a day after U.S. President George W. Bush paid a surprise visit to Baghdad. An Iraqi army official, according to the AP, said two divisions had been deployed in the capital, which would be about 20,000 soldiers, along with some 50,000 Interior Ministry forces.
There were more checkpoints and troops on the streets as Iraqis drove to work Wednesday morning.
Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry, said his forces had not encountered any resistance to the stepped-up security measures. "The people are feeling comfortable with the security measures and they are waving to us," al-Gharrawi said. "Until now, no clashes have erupted and no bullets have been fired at us."
The operation was the biggest of its kind in Baghdad since the U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004, al-Gharrawi said Tuesday. "The terrorists cannot face such power," Iraqi army Brig. Jalil Khalaf adde.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show "no mercy" to terrorists. The government did not say how long the crackdown would last.
Al-Maliki's plan additionally includes banning personal weapons and implementing a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, which hitherto had begun at 11 p.m. The new curfew was expected to begin Friday.
