Troops battle insurgents for 4th straight day in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: More than 1,000 American and Iraqi troops, backed by Apache attack helicopters and F-18 fighter jets, battled insurgents throughout the day and late into the night in central Baghdad on Tuesday, in one of the highest- profile operations in the capital since the end of the invasion nearly four years ago, U.S. military officials said.

It was the fourth straight day of fighting in the Haifa Street neighborhood and by far the fiercest, according to witnesses. Iraqi officials said at least 50 people had been killed, while the Americans said late Tuesday that they could not provide an accurate count amid the continuing fighting.

Throughout Tuesday night, American and Iraqi troops patrolled Haifa Street, a road 3 kilometers, or 2 miles, long that cuts through the heart of the capital. U.S. military officials said they would remain in the area around the clock until the situation was firmly under control. Gunfire and explosions could be heard well after dark.

The campaign to reclaim Haifa Street came on the eve of the scheduled address by President George W. Bush in which he was expected to outline a new strategy for turning the tide in Iraq, including sending thousands of more troops to the capital.

The first wave of additional U.S. troops will go into Iraq before the end of the month under Bush's new plan, a senior defense official said Tuesday, The Associated Press reported from Washington. Under the plan, up to 20,000 U.S. troops will be put on alert and be prepared to deploy, but the ongoing increase in forces on the ground will be gradual, said the official, who requested anonymity because the plans have not yet been announced.
A U.S. military official familiar with the military operation on Tuesday said that it was part of an ongoing effort to stabilize Baghdad and not directly linked to any new plan.

However, the location of the fighting has particular significance.

Nearly two years ago, after much blood and toil, the U.S. military wrested control of the area from insurgents.
Haifa Street, which runs up to the so- called Assassin's Gate, the main portal to the Green Zone, used to be called Purple Heart Boulevard by American soldiers. More than 160 troops from the 1st Battalion of the 9th Cavalry were wounded trying to secure the area; they succeeded in the spring of 2005.

The fighting on Tuesday was the culmination of a series of events that demonstrate the complexity of the fight for Americans forces and the maze of competing interests they are trying to navigate. It also suggests that even if the Americans attempt to deal evenhandedly with Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents, their efforts could end up inadvertently benefiting one party.

Although Shiites are clearly ascendant throughout Baghdad, systematically taking over Sunni neighborhoods and often using the intimidation of death squads to achieve their goals, the area around Haifa Street has long been a Sunni bastion.

For the past two years, it has been relatively quiet, but in recent months, as the sectarian fighting has intensified, Iraqi and American military officials suspected it was being used as a base of operations for insurgents targeting the Shiite civilian population and U.S. forces.

The violence in the area started to increase dramatically following the recent arrest of a senior member of the leading Shiite militia group, the Mahdi Army, who was operating near the area, according to an American military official.
The arrest, the official said, created an opening for Sunni insurgents, and they began aggressively targeting Shiites moving south from the northern Baghdad suburb of Khadimiya, the official said.

On Saturday, 27 bodies were dumped on Haifa Street where it runs through the Sheik Marouf neighborhood. They were Shiites; four had had their throats slit and the rest had been shot in the head, an Iraqi government official said.
Separately, officials in Turkey announced that a cargo plane carrying Turkish workers had crashed north of Baghdad, apparently while attempting to land in thick fog at an airport near the city of Balad. News services, citing officials in Istanbul and the southern Turkish city of Adana, where the plane took off, reported that it was carrying 29 Turkish and one American passenger, and a crew of 5.

The fighting on Tuesday began before dawn, about 5 a.m., when Iraqi troops began fanning out on Haifa Street with American forces supporting them, according to Iraqi military officials and witnesses.

A few hours later, Iraqi and American forces jointly began raiding the homes of suspected insurgents, the American military said.

One witness, Abu Muhammad, said that he saw only Iraqi troops entering the homes, not Americans.
During the raids, which Muhammad said led to the arrest of eight young men, the troops came under attack.

At that point the fighting quickly escalated, and the American forces became heavily involved.

Around 11 a.m., American fighter jets could be seen flying low over the area, dipping below the clouds and then quickly flying out of sight. American helicopters also hovered over the scene.

Loud explosions were heard, apparently from bombs falling on insurgent positions, but it was not clear whether the jets or the helicopters were dropping the explosives.

Muhammad said he saw one of the bombs hit a compound that seemed to be providing shelter for the gunmen. The compound was obliterated, but the gunmen were behind it, not inside, and were able to escape the attack, he said.
Muhammad and other residents described the situation on Haifa Street as increasingly dire, saying that it had been without electricity for 10 days.

By Marc Santora
Published: January 9, 2007
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/09/news/iraq.php?page=1



(1.12.2007)