BAGHDAD, May 29 -- Thousands of Iraqi security forces began a sweep for insurgents in Baghdad on Sunday, establishing checkpoints on highways into the capital and clashing with fighters in several neighborhoods west of downtown.
Insurgents hit back in a series of attacks, including an assault on a facility where fighters were detained and a car bombing at the Oil Ministry that killed two guards.
Iraqi soldiers man a checkpoint in Baghdad, the capital, where more than 40,000 police officers and soldiers were to take part in Operation Lightning.
(Karim Kadim -- AP)
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The initiative, dubbed Operation Lightning by Iraq's Interior and Defense ministries, was announced last week. Officials said it was to involve more than 40,000 police officers and soldiers and more than 675 checkpoints to help quell an insurgency that has launched dozens of attacks here this month.
The operation, which officials said could last more than a week, is being conducted primarily by Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which has about 10,000 troops in and around Baghdad.
Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the operation "an important signpost" on the road to developing Iraq's security forces, a precondition for scaling back the U.S. military presence here.
"Clearly what we want to have happen in Iraq is to have Iraqi security forces take charge of their own security," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "And every day, they're more and more able to do that."
Early Sunday afternoon, a driver detonated explosives in his vehicle as it sped toward a checkpoint near the Oil Ministry, killing two guards and wounding another, according to Hasim Jihad, a ministry spokesman.
Through the middle of Sunday afternoon, there was little evidence of an increased troop presence on Baghdad's streets. A reporter who visited six neighborhoods -- including three considered insurgent strongholds -- found streets quieter than usual and few security personnel in sight.
Security did appear tighter on major roadways leading into and out of Baghdad. A correspondent traveling to the capital from the northern city of Mosul noted 14 checkpoints, compared with the usual four.
Clashes began at about 3 p.m. in a string of neighborhoods connecting Baghdad with Abu Ghraib to the west, where the U.S. military maintains a large detention facility.
In Amariyah, in western Baghdad, dozens of insurgents fired small arms and mortars at Baghdad's Major Crimes Unit, where a U.S. military spokesman said insurgents are being held.
U.S. and Iraqi forces "repelled the attack," said Army Sgt. Maj. Jerry Craig. "The terrorists were unable to free any of the incarcerated insurgents they were trying to free."
The firefight lasted about 30 minutes, during which a car bomb exploded nearby, just before 4 p.m. In those incidents and in fighting in nearby neighborhoods, three civilians were killed and 15 people were wounded, including 10 Iraqi security personnel, according to the Associated Press.
At least 27 people were killed in clashes and insurgent attacks across the country Sunday, the AP reported.
In Ghazaliya, another neighborhood in western Baghdad, insurgents clashed with Iraqi forces for most of the day, said Capt. Ibrahim Khalil, a police commando. Residents prevented insurgents from setting off a roadside bomb near a police patrol by alerting the police, Khalil said.
"People should cooperate. We cannot secure the streets if they don't help us," he said.
Other neighborhoods known as havens for insurgents were quiet. In Dora, in southern Baghdad, an Iraqi army sergeant manning a checkpoint -- who declined to give his name -- said that it had been a normal Sunday and that few soldiers or police officers were visible in the streets.
Residents said they welcomed a beefed-up security presence in the capital, which, more than any other city in Iraq, has seemed to bear the brunt of the violence that has killed more than 600 people this month.
"They should have done this operation a long time ago, to end this chaos," said Alaa Muhsin, 56, as he watched police officers search cars at a checkpoint in Abu Ghraib.
In Kadhimiyah, a Shiite neighborhood in northern Baghdad, people sat in a circle by a fountain, watching Iraqi police conduct searches.
"We needed to see this," said Riyadh Hadi, 32. "If it continues like this, I'll be able to bring my children here again."
Asked for further details about the Baghdad operation Sunday evening, U.S. and Iraqi officials seemed unsure of its status. A U.S. adviser to the Interior Ministry, Naomi Elmer, said the operation had not yet begun.
"You were given inaccurate information and an inaccurate start date," she said in a telephone interview. "If something like that were to kick off, the press would be notified immediately."
An hour later, a Defense Ministry spokesman said the operation had begun before dawn.
Laith Kubba, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, said during a news conference that security forces had detained 500 suspected insurgents and raided more than 50 homes in the days leading up to the campaign. He said the operation would build in scope as the week progressed.
"They are going to push further and further," he said. "You have to rattle them slowly."
Kubba also told reporters that the government would soon raise oil prices and electricity rates in an attempt to reduce the budget deficit and meet conditions set by foreign lenders.
Gasoline in Iraq is heavily subsidized; it can cost about 10 cents a gallon. Electricity, the erratic supply of which has been a constant headache for authorities here, is also very cheap, and Kubba said the government planned to charge more money when customers consume more than a set amount per day.
The details of both proposals would be announced later, he said, adding that steps would be taken to ensure that the poor would not be unduly burdened.
"There's no doubt this is a difficult political decision, but the prime minister believes if the government is honest with people, people will understand its decisions," he said. "The prime minister insists he will overcome any obstacles in his way."
Elsewhere in Iraq, security forces said they captured two brothers allegedly involved in several car bombings. Uday Fuad Khalef and Qusay Fuad Khalef were arrested in the northwestern city of Rawah. A government statement said they were linked to Jordanian insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi.
Special correspondent Bassam Sebti contributed to this report.
