Maliki begins Baghdad crackdown
Maliki begins Baghdad crackdown
Also In The News
|
Italian football is in a state of total bewilderment after the cataclysmic last few weeks. |  |
Wednesday, 14, Jun 2006 08:07
Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki has launched a massive security crackdown in an effort to quell rising levels of violence in Baghdad.
An increase in the number of security checkpoints and patrols on the streets are chief among the changes introduced, following quickly on a surprise visit by US President George Bush yesterday.
But despite long tailbacks as Iraqi soldiers and police searched vehicles entering the city, security forces failed to prevent a suicide car bomb attack against a Sunni stronghold in Qahira, killing four.
President Bush spoke today on the subject of Iraq in a White House press conference. He told reporters that "I sense something different… the progress will be steady toward a goal that has clearly been defined".
A recent series of news stories positive for coalition forces and the Bush administration, including the successful assassination of al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the completion of Mr Maliki's cabinet, has boosted
But as he was saying these words heavy gunfire was exchanged elsewhere in Baghdad, forcing shops to close and local inhabitants to seek shelter in the Azamiyah district.
Earlier this month the Baghdad mortuary revealed that it had admitted 6,000 bodies in the first five months of the year, most of which died violently from gunshot and knife wounds. Many of the corpses also had electric burns.