SHI'ITE militants have agreed on a ceasefire in Baghdad's embattled neighbourhood of Sadr City, a high-level cleric said yesterday, raising hopes that weeks of clashes in the capital could be at an end.
Meanwhile, in the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi army commander announced the start of the long-anticipated offensive against al-Qaeda in its last urban stronghold.
Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, an aide to radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said
the ceasefire would come into effect today. But it may not bring an end to seven weeks of clashes in Sadr City, the stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. The US military has blamed the violence on breakaway groups.
It is believed that the bulk of the 60,000-strong Mahdi Army has not participated in the clashes. Splinter groups that have refused to honour a general ceasefire ordered by al-Sadr last August are being blamed. Al-Sadr has directed his supporters to fight only when attacked.
The clashes began in late March after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, himself a Shi'ite, launched a crackdown against Shi'ite armed groups in the southern city of Basra.
Aid groups say at least 6,000 people have fled their homes in Sadr City to escape the fighting and seek help as food and medical supplies dwindle.
In Mosul, Major General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, the commander of military operations in the northern city, issued a statement yesterday to announce that the operation against al-Qaeda was under way.
Mosul is considered to be the last important urban staging ground in Iraq for al-Qaeda and allied groups after losing their strongholds in Baghdad and other areas during the US troop surge last year.
Provincial forces were undertaking a new phase of operations in Mosul to counter the terrorist threat there, said Major John C Hall, a military spokesman in Baghdad. "These operations build on operations that have been under way for the past several weeks, targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq cells."
He added that the "Iraqi-planned and Iraqi-led" series of operations continued to be closely supported by coalition forces.
In January, al-Maliki said his military forces were preparing for a "decisive" showdown with insurgents in Mosul, about 225 miles north-west of Baghdad.
But no major offensives have been mounted, even as al-Qaeda in Iraq tried to exert its influence in the country's third-largest city through attacks and intimidation.
On Friday evening, Iraqi officials imposed an indefinite vehicle ban in the northern province of Nineveh, which includes Mosul. Brigadier General Khalid Abdul-Sattar, the provincial security spokesman, said the ban was prompted by intelligence that Sunni insurgents might be planning to carry out car bombings.
The operation against al-Qaeda comes after Iraqi authorities mistakenly announced on Thursday that the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, had been captured in Mosul. American officials said a man who was arrested had a similar name.
There have been false alarms in the past about al-Masri. At least twice – in 2006 and last May – there were reports that he was dead.
The full article contains 529 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
