Middle East News
Iraqi soldiers killed in blast; shaky ceasefire in Baghdad (Roundup)
By DPA
May 13, 2008, 14:01 GMT

Baghdad - Five Iraqi army soldiers were killed and four injured in a bomb blast Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul as the government braces for a big offensive in the city, military sources said.

Also in Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, four children were wounded in two separate attacks, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.

On Saturday, the Iraqi government announced the launch of a military offensive in Mosul to clear the city of al-Qaeda militants.

However, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Tuesday said the offensive had not yet started, but introductory military operations had been conducted.

The actual launch of the offensive would be announced when the preliminary operations ended, al-Maliki said.

Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubayi, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the operation in Mosul would come as 'a shock for all al-Qaeda cells.'

He added that the leadership of the al-Qaeda network had become weaker.

Separately, a ceasefire in Baghdad's Sadr City between the Shiite militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi and US troops has been shaky.

The US military said it averted several attacks by militiamen in Sadr City and killed three of them in precision strikes Monday.

Two of the militants, who were placing a home-made bomb, were killed in a Hellfire missile attack, according to the military.

Earlier, al-Sadr called upon his followers to abide by the ceasefire agreement, signed between Sadrist movement and the ruling United Iraqi Alliance, to stop fighting in Sadr City.

Al-Sadr urged his Shiite followers to implement the agreement, which is made up of 16 articles and should last for only four days, according to a statement written in his handwriting.

Khalid Attiya, an official in the United Iraqi Alliance, told the media on Tuesday that the governmental-Sadrist agreement achieved peace on both sides and settled tensions in Sadr City, in eastern Baghdad.

The Sadrist movement stated in the agreement that heavy weapons would not be held and bombs would be removed from streets around Sadr City.

Sadr City has witnessed heavy clashes between the Mahdi Army, loyal to al-Sadr, and the Iraqi government since March 25.

The fighting has resulted in the deaths of some 1,000 people and the wounding of 5,000, mostly civilians.

On Saturday, the Iraqi government and the Sadrists agreed to halt violence in the Shiite enclave.