Iraq to Launch Anti-Insurgent Operation Across Baghdad

The Iraqi government announced Thursday it would deploy 40,000 troops and police next week in an aggressive lockdown of Baghdad amid continuing violence that claimed the lives of at least 10 more people across the country.

Among the dead was a child killed in crossfire in the northern city of Mosul and a U.S. Marine shot near the town of Haditha in Al Anbar province. The latter killing occurred as U.S. forces continued a large-scale sweep targeting insurgents in the volatile western province bordering Syria.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported that an American helicopter crashed north of Baghdad near Baqubah late Thursday after being struck by small-arms fire.

Two American soldiers died in the crash of the OH-58 Kiowa, the military said. A second helicopter was also hit.In announcing the forthcoming lockdown of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said they hope to stop the activities of guerrillas headquartered in the city and halt those trying to infiltrate from Al Anbar province and beyond.

In the last four weeks, more than 630 people -- including at least 60 American troops -- have been killed by insurgents across Iraq.

The government plans to seal off Baghdad and divide it into 23 sectors patrolled by Iraqi police and soldiers, said Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaimi. More than 600 checkpoints will be created in addition to those already scattered throughout the city, he said.

“We will form a strong and tough security ring encircling Baghdad as the bracelet encircles the wrist,” Dulaimi said. “We will not let anyone penetrate this ring.”

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari said the operation had expanded because of the large number of insurgents already in the city.

“We’ve discovered that there are [bomb] factories within Baghdad,” Jafari said. “A car can be driven and loaded within an hour in the factory to become a car bomb to be unleashed on a target.”

Although the early announcement of what is being called Operation Lightning could provide a tip-off to insurgents, officials said the plan showed how the powerful defense and interior ministries will work together to crack down.

At Thursday’s news conference inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, Dulaimi appeared by the side of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who said he believes that militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi had been wounded recently.

“We don’t know if he is crippled by his injuries or if he died,” Jabr said. Asked how the government knew, he simply replied: “It’s our job.”

Jafari later contradicted Jabr, telling reporters at another event that the government didn’t have “accurate information that this took place.”

“He represents an obstacle, and he is one of the causes of the trouble in the country,” Jafari said.

“However, you must not narrow down [the problem] only to Zarqawi. It’s not about a person.... It’s about the network and the phenomenon and its causes, and that’s what we want to focus on.”

Earlier in the day, there were several conflicting Internet postings about Zarqawi, his whereabouts and health.

One said four potential successors had stepped forward in case of Zarqawi’s death; another said he had left the country accompanied by two doctors. “He is in a stable condition after he got shot by a bullet that penetrated his right lung,” the latter posting said.

In Al Anbar province, an imam brandishing an AK-47 rifle was among those killed by U.S.-led forces during the sweep, dubbed Operation New Market, a military statement said.

During the operation, soldiers found a grenade launcher and other weapons in a palm grove north of Haditha.

In a raid on what soldiers believed was a safe house for insurgents in the town of Ubaydi, U.S.-led forces discovered a local construction worker, blindfolded and beaten, who claimed to have been kidnapped. Soldiers said they also found bomb-making equipment in the house.

“The operation is successful to this point,” said Col. Stephen Davis, commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 2. “We were able to achieve what we believe is total surprise.”

According to the military, the offensive by 1,000 troops began after insurgents fired a mortar round at the city’s hydroelectric dam, which provides a third of the country’s electricity.

The military said that at least 10 insurgents have been killed thus far in the operation, and two Marines have been wounded in addition to the fatality Wednesday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Wednesday accused Syria of tolerating insurgent traffic into Iraq. Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations later announced the arrest of more than 1,200 people trying to cross, Associated Press reported.

In Baghdad, violence began Thursday at daybreak.

Just after 7 a.m., an American convoy on the Qasim Highway struck a roadside bomb. One jeep caught fire, a Humvee was disabled and several U.S. troops and one Iraq were injured, Iraqi officials said.

Half an hour later, a suicide car bomber killed two Iraqi police officers and one bystander in an attack on a police convoy near the Shula neighborhood. Drive-by gunmen killed a professor at Baghdad’s Mustansiriya University and three bodyguards at 8 a.m., according to officials.

In Tall Afar, north of Mosul, a child was killed during a gunfight between U.S. soldiers and insurgents. A statement by the military said rebels had used children as shields.

The military also said that three inmates at Abu Ghraib prison escaped before sunrise by cutting a hole in a fence.

Times staff writers Shamil Aziz, Raheem Salman and Caesar Ahmed in Baghdad and special correspondent Ali Windawi in Kirkuk contributed to this report.