US launches 'major Iraq assault' :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: US launches 'major Iraq assault'

Posted by admin on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 06:32 PM

The US military says it has launched a major air offensive against insurgents near the central Iraqi city of Samarra.

More than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and US troops have been deployed in the operation, according to a military statement. The air assault is the biggest since the 2003 invasion, the military said. A bomb attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, last month sparked widespread sectarian violence. There are no independent reports of Thursday's offensive so far. The US military said the assault, dubbed Operation Swarmer, was intended to "clear a suspected insurgent operating area" north-east of Samarra. The operation is expected to last several days "as a thorough search of the objective area is conducted". Near the end of the first day, the joint US and Iraqi force said it had captured a number of weapons caches, containing shells, ammunition and military uniforms. Show of force The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says it is clear the Americans do believe there are pockets of insurgents in the Samarra area. Samarra has become a byword for sectarian violence following the shrine attack, our correspondent says, and the US is keen to be seen as attacking the roots of the violence. The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says a major show of force is being carried out in the hope of breaking a cycle of escalating violence which could lead to civil war. The Pentagon is keen to demonstrate that US and Iraqi forces can operate jointly in response to sectarian attacks, he says. The military operation is also backing up the political message from the Bush administration in recent weeks that progress is being made in Iraq, he adds.

· 119 Reads ·