BLASTS ROCK BAGHDAD DESPITE CRACKDOWN
BAGHDAD — More than 60 Iraqi civilians were killed and scores more wounded Sunday in a spate of ferocious bomb and gun attacks targeting mostly Shiite areas of the capital, ending days of relative calm since the start of the latest U.S.-Iraqi effort to quell violence and restore order.
Two U.S. troops were also reported killed Sunday in weekend fighting around Baghdad.
At the same time, Iraqi officials say the Baghdad security plan has significantly lowered the number of death-squad killings attributed primarily to Shiite Muslim militias around the capital.
The number of bodies found with bullet holes and dumped in desolate lots or waterways has continued a weeks-long decline, plummeting from peaks of 60 or 70 per day in December to a daily average of 13 in the last week, according to unofficial hospital and police reports.
Three such bodies were discovered in Baghdad on Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said.
Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias, criminal gangs and foreign extremists all take part in the violence in Iraq. The decline in death-squad killings suggests that the Baghdad security plan, which includes a major political component, has tripped up or partly neutralized organized Shiite militias while it has failed to halt Sunni Muslim extremists targeting Shiite civilians with suicide bombings.
"The reason behind the decline is the security plan and the fleeing of militants to other places," said one ranking east Baghdad police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of policies that bar law enforcement officials from speaking to the media without authorization. "Even those who've remained don't feel free to move these days. We don't see armed groups these days."
U.S. fighter jets screeched above the capital as Operation Law and Order, as it is being called by Iraqi and American officials, continued for a sixth day.
Beginning Tuesday night, U.S. and Iraqi forces set up aggressive checkpoints in search of weapons and ringleaders of sectarian gangs.
While the security plan has gotten underway, U.S. officials have urged patience.
They say it will take months before all the additional 17,500 American troops destined for Baghdad arrive and begin to make a lasting difference on the streets. Beyond the capital, 4,000 other new U.S. troops will be deploying to Iraq.
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