Iraq PM in Mosul to direct al Qaeda offensive
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew tothe northern city of Mosul on Wednesday to take charge of a bigoffensive against al Qaeda in what the U.S. military says isthe group's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
The operation -- which Iraqi military officials hope willdeliver a knockout blow to al Qaeda militants in northern Iraq-- commenced on Saturday.
Officials said Maliki went straight into meetings with topgenerals after arriving in the city, Iraq's third largest.
"The prime minister has arrived in Mosul to supervise themilitary operation," Defence Ministry spokesman Major-GeneralMohammed al-Askari told reporters in the city.
Sunni Islamist al Qaeda gunmen have regrouped in Mosul andthe surrounding province of Nineveh after being pushed out ofBaghdad and western Anbar province by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
It was unclear how long Maliki would stay, but his visit issimilar to when he flew to the southern city of Basra in lateMarch to oversee a crackdown on Shi'ite militias there.
That offensive got off to rocky start when the Mehdi Armymilitia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr put up fierceresistance in Basra. Fighting also spread to Baghdad.
Sadr's opposition movement in parliament and the rulingShi'ite alliance brokered a deal on the weekend to end theBaghdad fighting, although sporadic clashes keep breaking out.
Iraqi military officials have said the goal of theoperation in Nineveh is to "clean the province of al Qaedaremnants".
Vehicle curfews have been imposed throughout the province,whose capital is Mosul. The U.S. military is providing support,but the operation is Iraqi-led.
U.S. officials blame al Qaeda in Iraq for most bigbombings, including an attack on a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra inFebruary 2006 that set off a wave of sectarian killings thatnearly tipped Iraq into all-out civil war.
A build-up of U.S. troops last year and support from SunniArab tribes that turned against al Qaeda allowed the militaryto conduct a series of offensives that largely pushed themilitants into northern areas, including Nineveh.
However, U.S. commanders say al Qaeda in Iraq, althoughweakened, can still carry out large-scale attacks.
PEACE URGED IN BAGHDAD
In Baghdad, Iraq's security forces urged Sadr's movement todo more to ensure the weekend truce took hold and offered cashrewards for militiamen who gave up their weapons.
Major-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for Iraqi securityforces in the city, said gunmen were still attacking troops inthe capital despite the agreement to end nearly two months offighting that has killed hundreds of people.
Clashes broke out in Baghdad overnight and on Wednesday,police said, killing seven people and wounding 28.
The goal was to disarm the militias, Moussawi said.
Many of the Shi'ite gunmen claim loyalty to theanti-American Sadr, but his control over them is unclear.
"So far we are still at the zero stage. Nothing has beendone to implement the agreement on the ground," Moussawi told anews conference.
"We expect our brothers in the Sadr bloc to help our forcesimplement the agreement .. Some centres will be opened to offermoney to those who hand over guns willingly."
Despite the fresh violence, residents in Sadr's easternBaghdad stronghold of Sadr City and the U.S. military said itwas calmer there on Tuesday night compared to recent weeks.
A senior political aide to Sadr has urged patience with thetruce and said it might take time to take effect.
(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks, Khalid al-Ansary andAseel Kami, Writing by Tim Cocks and Dean Yates, Editing byRichard Balmforth)