BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. and Iraqi forces began a major helicopter and ground attack Thursday on an insurgent stronghold near Samarra, the Sunni Arab-dominated city where the bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine last month set off waves of sectarian bloodshed across the country.
The assault was under way 80 miles north of Baghdad as the Parliament elected three months ago held its inaugural session in the capital amid sharp exchanges that reflected the country’s rising divisions. The meeting was quickly adjourned so political leaders could resume U.S.-guided talks on the makeup of a new government’s leadership.
The joint military operation and the new parliament are elements of an American strategy to start bringing home U.S. troops, who arrived here nearly three years ago. Iraq’s military has been taking a bigger role in attacks on a Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
And under U.S. diplomatic pressure, leaders of all parliamentary factions are struggling to avert full-scale sectarian conflict by holding talks aimed at bringing Sunni minority representatives into a broad coalition government along with majority Shiites, ethnic Kurds and secular-minded parties.
Adnan Pachachi, at 83 the oldest member of parliament, underscored the urgency of the task in unusually blunt remarks to his colleagues after he had been appointed temporary speaker.
“The country is going through dangerous times … and the perils come from every direction,” he said during the nationally televised session. “We have to prove to the world that there will not be civil war among our people. The danger is still there, and our enemies are ready for us.”
“We’re still at the beginning of the road to democracy,” he added, “and we’re stumbling.”
In announcing the counter-insurgency assault, called Operation Swarmer, U.S. officials emphasized the involvement of Iraqi’s army, which provided 800 of the 1,500 troops involved. More than 50 aircraft, mainly helicopters, helped transport the troops, making it the largest airborne attack in Iraq since April 2003, military officials said.
A statement by the U.S. command said a number of insurgent weapons caches – containing artillery shells, explosives, army uniforms and materials for making car bombs – had been discovered.
Lt. Col. Edward S. Loomis, a U.S. military spokesman, said 40 people were detained for questioning. There were no reports of resistance or casualties.
Residents of the area, northeast of Samarra, said the operation was concentrated around four villages that have harbored insurgent followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose al- Qaida in Iraq organization has been blamed by U.S. and Iraqi officials for the Feb. 22 mosque bombing.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
