IRAQ:The Iraqi government plans to bring in troop reinforcements to take part in a major security plan for Baghdad, but a US general said yesterday the key to success would be a balanced approach rather than sheer force.
The prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, announced a major security plan for Baghdad on Saturday, vowing to crush illegal armed groups "regardless of sect or politics" - suggesting he may be ready to tackle militias loyal to his fellow Shias, as demanded by Washington and the once-dominant Sunni minority.
Sectarian violence is killing hundreds of people a week, mostly in Baghdad, and securing the capital is seen as crucial to stopping Iraq's descent into full-scale civil war.
Mr Maliki's announcement comes as US president George Bush reshuffles his commanders and diplomats in Iraq and prepares to unveil a new strategy next week that officials say may include a proposal to send 20,000 more US troops to Baghdad.
Lieut Gen Raymond Odierno, the new commander of US combat troops in Iraq, said a previous US operation launched in August to secure Baghdad had flaws. "We were able to clear the areas. We were not able to hold the areas," he said. "You have to go after both Shia and Sunni neighbourhoods and 'Together Forward' was focused mostly on Sunni neighbourhoods and we've got to do both. We have to have a balanced approach about going after both Shia and Sunni extremists."
Gen Odierno said US commanders had also "overestimated the availability of Iraqi security forces" in the earlier operation and said US troops would also remain in neighbourhoods to ensure Iraqi forces did not pursue their own sectarian agendas.
Sami al-Askari, an adviser to Mr Maliki, said two brigades from northern Iraq, comprising mostly Kurdish soldiers, and one from the mainly Shia south, would be sent to Baghdad to help implement the plan. Iraqi brigades number around 1,200 soldiers.
The deaths of five more Americans in Iraq were announced yesterday and 17 death squad victims were found by police around Baghdad.