Iraq unveils massive security offensive

Iraq's government will pour tens of thousands of Iraqi troops into Baghdad in an unprecedented operation to seal off the city and hunt insurgents who have launched a fresh wave of violence, ministers said yesterday.

Defence Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi said 40,000 Iraqi troops would be deployed in Baghdad for Operation Thunder, the biggest Iraqi military operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Backed by the 10,000 US troops in Baghdad, they will set up hundreds of checkpoints and block roads into the capital.

The dramatic rise in suicide bombings and ambushes by mostly Sunni Arab guerillas has killed more than 600 Iraqis in the last four weeks and raised fears that Iraq could slide towards civil war if the Shi'ite-led government does not deliver on pledges of stability.

Mr Dulaimi said the crackdown would expand to other parts of Iraq after starting in Baghdad. But he did not say where the extra troops would come from or what their level of training would be. Many Iraqi troops are undertrained and underequipped.

"These operations will aim to turn the government's role from defensive to offensive," Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said at a news conference announcing the operation.

Despite the announcement, attacks persisted nationwide, with at least 15 people killed in bomb blasts and shootings.

The US military said a Marine was killed by gunfire during the operation on Wednesday. Since the US-led invasion in March 2003, at least 1,647 American military personnel have lost their lives in Iraq.

An internet posting this week apparently from the al Qaeda organisation in Iraq said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for whom Washington is offering a $25 million bounty, had been wounded in fighting, although it did not say when, where or how.

Other reports on the web said he had been shot in the chest, but these could not be independently confirmed.

Mr Jabor said he had confirmation that Zarqawi had been wounded. But Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari later said there was no firm news. "We don't yet have accurate information on this matter," Mr Jaafari told reporters.

Earlier yesterday, another posting was put on the internet saying that the leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq had met and decided to appoint a deputy to Zarqawi until he recovered. However, hours later, another posting dismissed that report.

"We deny what was issued about the appointment of the so-called Abu Hafs or any other name," said the later posting.

The later statement, unlike the earlier one, was signed by Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi, who usually posts for al Qaeda in Iraq. The new statement said the group had announced Zarqawi's wounding to show its news credibility and allay fears following reports that the leader had been killed.