BAGHDAD, Iraq - Execution-style killings have fallen sharply in Baghdad since the security crackdown began this month, the No. 2 U.S. commander said Tuesday. Figures compiled by The Associated Press from police reports show that the number of bullet-ridden bodies found in the streets of Baghdad this month total 494 as of Monday night. That was down from the 954 in January and 1,222 in December. Such killings have generally been attributed to sectarian death squads — including Shiite militiamen, Sunni insurgents or rogue elements within the mostly Shiite army and police.
The security crackdown officially began Feb. 14, although some U.S. and Iraqi units had been stepping up patrols and searches since earlier in the month.
"We have seen a decrease in the past three weeks — a pretty radical decrease," Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters. "I'm not willing to draw any conclusions yet though because it's only (been) three weeks."
Odierno, the operational commander for U.S. forces in Iraq, suggested the drop could be due to more security forces on the streets but added it may be only temporary.
more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_sectarian_deathsPerhaps this may be true, but violence is just moving outside of Baghdad
RAMADI - Iraqi police and a community leader said a bomb blast near a soccer field in Ramadi killed 18 people, mostly children, but the U.S. military said it was unaware of such an attack. The U.S. military said its soldiers had carried out a controlled explosion in Ramadi, also near a soccer field, that slightly wounded 30 people, including nine children.
Two Iraqi police sources said 18 people had been killed in the bomb attack. Tribal leader Hamid Farhan al-Hays from Ramadi told Iraqiya state television that 12 children and six women were killed in a bomb he blamed on al Qaeda.
* BAGHDAD - Four bodies were found shot dead around Baghdad, a police source said.
* BAGHDAD - Mortars killed three people and wounded six in Wehde, south of Baghdad, a police source said.
* DIWANIYA - The U.S. military announced the death of another U.S. soldier, killed on Monday by a roadside bomb near Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad. Two more soldiers were wounded by the bomb.
BAGHDAD - Three U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb on the outskirts of Baghdad and one more was wounded, the U.S. military said.
link:
http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR731341.htm