Report: Iraqi Army Kills 30 Militants

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070106/D8MFVMI80.html

eport: Iraqi Army Kills 30 Militants
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Jan 6, 2:40 PM (ET)

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that Iraqi forces would launch a new effort - with U.S. troops in a supporting role - to wrest control of Baghdad's neighborhoods from militias and other sectarian killers.

A firefight in a Sunni neighborhood of central Baghdad between Iraqi army forces and militants apparently marked the start of the drive to contain Sunni insurgents and Shiite death squads. According to a state television report, 30 militants were killed and eight arrested - including five Sudanese - in the insurgent-held neighborhood that housed Iraqi government and military officials during Saddam Hussein's rule.

"The Baghdad security plan will not offer a safe shelter for outlaws regardless of their ethnic and political affiliations, and we will punish anyone who hesitates to implement orders because of his ethnic and political background," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said earlier in the day in a speech at the 85th anniversary celebration of the Iraqi army.

Hours before the firefight was reported, police said they had found 27 bodies in same area, along Sunni-dominated Haifa Street about two miles north of the heavily fortified Green Zone, site of the U.S. and British embassies, the Iraqi government and thousands of American troops.

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