Iraq extends crackdown outside Baghdad

Source: AFP

Iraq extends crackdown outside Baghdad by Jay Deshmukh
24 minutes ago



BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq said on Wednesday it is extending the military crackdown in Baghdad to other flashpoint regions where insurgent and sectarian violence has killed hundreds in the past two weeks.

In the latest example of a spike in unrest away from the troop build-up in the Iraqi capital, gunmen dressed in police uniforms kidnapped 22 shepherds from the desert near the central Shiite shrine city of Karbala on Wednesday.

Iraqi and US officials announced that Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Imposing Law) has already been underway in the restive northern city of Mosul since Tuesday and will also focus more on the outskirts of Baghdad.

"The efforts are now extending beyond Baghdad to provide peace and security to other provinces," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070404/wl_afp/iraq_070404165752

Things are pacified out there for awhile, while downtown goes back to hell.. (like it has been far from it)

Big friggen game of whack-a-mole.