Middle East News
Security offensive launched in Iraq's Mosul (Roundup)
By DPA
May 10, 2008, 13:55 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi government launched Saturday a security offensive against members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network and militants in Nineveh while fighting was set to end in Baghdad's Sadr City, media reports, and Sadrist and security sources said.

A spokesman for the security operation in the northern Iraqi city of Nineveh, Riyad Khalil, told reporters that the new security offensive was supported by US helicopters and troops.

The operation, codenamed the Lion's Roar, plans to target militants on the streets of Nineveh and its suburbs.

Earlier, Iraqi media reported that Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki would be arriving in the northern city of Mosul to launch the operation.

In the course of the offensive, Iraqi security forces imposed a vehicle curfew in Mosul and closed all borders to prevent militants from escaping.

In other news, the Iraqi government and the Shiite al-Sadr movement agreed to quit the intense fighting that has been going on since March 25 in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City, Sadrist sources told Deutsche-Presse Agentur dpa.

Asmaa al-Mosawy, a Sadrist official, told dpa that the government has agreed on 10 points stated in an initiative of 14 points issued by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on March 30 to stop the fighting in Basra.

Al-Mosawy said the clashes will end on Sunday.

The Sadrist movement seeks to stop any violence among all Iraqis, whether they are members of the army or civilians, the Sadrist official added.

'We hope that the government would fulfil its promises to maintain security in Iraq,' al-Mosawy said.

However, gunfire was still heard in the Shiite enclave, despite the agreement between the government and Sadrists to stop the armed clashes, al-Arabiya news channel said.

Prime Minister al-Maliki has launched a security offensive codenamed Charges of the Knights against militiamen of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to al-Sadr.

At least 30 people were reported killed on Friday and another 70 wounded overnight during intense clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi forces in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad.