Military Checkpoints, Curfews Imposed in Baghdad

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 3:56 PM

BAGHDAD, June 14 -- Three times on this sweltering morning, men with machine guns stopped Hussein Mohammed, searched his car and demanded identification.

His normal 10-minute commute across the Tigris river to his job in a small street market in Baghdad grew to a tedious, stop-and-go 90 minutes. After he arrived at his shop, now frequented by just a fraction of his usual clientele, the electricity inside lasted just one hour before everything went dark.

And since it is now illegal to be on the streets past dusk, he must close two hours early, just when the after-work shoppers normally file in.

But all this, he says, is better than the alternative.

"Even if we are delayed in our work, even if there is a curfew, even if there are fewer customers, if the security plan works, it's okay with me," said Mohammed, 23, as he stood in his narrow, cluttered shop of infants clothes and assorted linens. "We are concerned . . . primarily with results."

The result Mohammed and others desire is simple: an end to the daily violent deaths destabilizing Iraq's capital.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government Wednesday deployed thousands of soldiers and police to patrol the city and man checkpoints in the first major security initiative of his month-old administration, aimed at combating the killings and kidnappings that have become near-daily events.

In the commercial district of Karrada, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in central Baghdad, the crackdown clogged traffic and cut down on business in shops and markets, according to city merchants.

Elsewhere in the city, insurgents attacked police patrols, a car bomb exploded, killing four and the sound of mortar fire echoed across the city. In Karrada, soldiers in camouflage and bullet-proof vests stopped each car on a main thoroughfare, asking for identification.

A police convoy carrying officers wearing black ski-masks sped past, sirens wailing, with one of them shouting through a megaphone: "Clear the way! Clear the way!"

In the bed of one police pick-up truck that drove by, a dead body lay beneath a blanket, a black hand bag next to its side. Police ordered drivers not to park along the street because on Sunday, two car bombs exploded within a mile of each other on this stretch of road.

At one point, police found an undetonated bomb in a car farther up the road and traffic stopped completely, forced to divert down narrow side roads. Iraqi officials acknowledged the inconvenience of the security measures.

"We appreciate the people for taking the burden that comes with the security plan and we regret the suffering they might go through because of it, like the curfew, patrols and the checkpoints," said Maliki.

"We know that these things might interrupt their life, but we hope they will be patient because the goal of the plan is not to abuse their freedom, but to secure their life and maintain security."

The heightened police presence failed to stop the killing Wednesday. In the Adhamiya area north of Baghdad, gunmen clashed with Iraqi army soldiers manning a checkpoint, according to Capt. Riyad Ali of the Baghdad police.

The fight lasted about an hour and five of attackers and two soldiers died, he said.

A car bomb targeting a police patrol in the Qahira neighborhood of eastern Baghdad killed four people and injured eight others, said Maj. Saad Mahmoud of the Ministry of Interior Operations room.

And in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, gunmen killed Sayyid Radhi Zamily, a high ranking member of the new prime minister's political party, according to Dawa party member Faed Shammary.

Zamily was killed near his home at about midnight Wednesday, he said.

The shop owners in Baghdad's Mandarin market said they would put up with the frustration of traffic jams and curfews if it made their city safer.

"We have noticed less and less people shopping, but I would rather have security than more customers," said Wisam Saad, 29, who stood in his empty shop, surrounded by cigar boxes, teapots and other trinkets. "This plan is a very good idea."

The new security plan, called Operation Advancing Together, prohibits citizens from carrying guns outside of their homes. The plan is primarily a tightening of existing measures, as checkpoints and curfews have hampered movement in Baghdad for years.

Maliki declined to specify how many troops were involved in this latest operation. He said there was no deadline of when the stricter measures would stop. The newly appointed ministers of the ministries of defense, interior, and national security held a joint press conference Wednesday to discuss the plan, which is intended to extend beyond security measures to programs such as cleaning the streets and planting trees.

But stopping the violence is the first priority, the officials said. "What is happening now is mass killing," said Defense Minister Abdul Qadir Muhammed Jasim. "We have set a very important goal, which is to restore security in the capital."

In the past week in Iraq, more than 200 civilians have been killed along with 78 insurgents, according to the Defense Ministry. In Baghdad alone, U.S.-led forces conducted more than 1,100 patrols and set up 1,200 checkpoints to contain the violence during that time.

Special correspondents Omar Fekiki and K.I. Ibrahim in Baghdad, and Hassan Shammari in Baqubah, contributed to this report.