Large-scale security operation under way in Baghdad: AP
(Kyodo) _ A large-scale Baghdad security operation is under way against Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Wednesday, reports said.French public radio said the operation was launched in the northeastern part of the Iraqi capital.
The Iraqi general who is leading the security drive took over the operation headquarters on Monday, but there had been no announcement until Wednesday that the sweep, the third attempt to crush violence in nine months, had begun, the Associated Press said.
"It is ongoing as we speak," Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the spokesman, was quoted as saying. "The implementation of the prime minister's plan has already begun and will be fully implemented at a later date, having all the parts and pieces that he wants."