Insurgents defy crackdown; suicide blasts kill at least 28

05/30/2005

Carol J. Williams,
Los Angeles Times
May 30, 2005

BAGHDAD—Insurgents defied a much-touted military crackdown in the capital Sunday, targeting police checkpoints, the Oil Ministry and convoys of U.S. and Iraqi troops.

In at least five suicide bombings within six hours, insurgents killed 20 members of the fledgling security forces. By the end of the day, militants had killed at least eight other Iraqis, as the death toll in a monthlong escalation of violence pushed beyond 720.

Armored SUVs and pickup trucks carrying Iraqi police and national guardsmen sped through the capital, drawing fire and scattering civilian drivers trying to put distance between themselves and the targeted convoys. Small-arms fire from insurgent ambushes in several Baghdad neighborhoods crackled throughout the day as the embattled new government continued deploying what it said would be 40,000 police and troops.

Checking for weaponsAlaa Al MarjaniAssociated PressPrime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s spokesman, Laith Kubba, said more than 500 arrests have been made in the first two days of the sweep, known as Operation Lightning. Iraqi and U.S. officials had predicted that militants besieging Baghdad with daily suicide bombings and assassinations would flee the crackdown, announced Thursday.

Iraqi and U.S. officials had planned to erect 675 checkpoints along the capital’s outskirts to prevent insurgents from fleeing, but they have yet to set up an effective cordon. Instead, insurgents staged attacks across the capital, targeting the very checkpoints meant to ensnare them. The deadliest of the day’s attacks occurred when about 50 insurgents stormed a checkpoint, killing nine Iraqi troops attempting to monitor and search passing vehicles. The government said 14 insurgents died in the exchange of gunfire.

Kubba said the government would press on with the campaign with street-by-street, house-to-house searches. “Search operations and raids have allowed us to arrest 500 people and find arms caches in several houses,” he said.

While Iraqi police and soldiers were scrambling to seal off the capital, some U.S. officials expressed concern that the crackdown would lack “precision” and further erode public support for Al-Jaafari’s government, which took power April 28 and has witnessed a concerted challenge to its authority from insurgents.

Troops belonging to the U.S.-led coalition are backing the raids, but officers have emphasized that Operation Lightning is an Iraqi-led mission.

A website used by Islamic militants carried a posting Sunday purportedly from suspected insurgent mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In the statement, Al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the spree of attacks Sunday and vowed to personally lead Al-Qaida loyalists in defeating the crackdown.

Al-Zarqawi has been reported to be recovering from wounds suffered during a clash with coalition forces in mid-May. Various reports have had him near death, undergoing treatment in neighboring Iran and spearheading the latest assaults. None could be verified.

In another incident, U.S. forces said a Marine was killed Saturday when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle near Haqlaniyah, 85 miles northwest of Baghdad. Another soldier who was wounded May 4 died on May 25, it added. At least 1,657 U.S. military members have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.