Iraq in new assault on Al-Qaeda in main northern city

Maliki traveled to Mosul with top aides to take command of the US-backed drive against Al-Qaeda in the province, defense ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Kareem Khalaf said.

The prime minister, who ordered a similar offensive against Shiite militias in the main southern city of Basra two months ago, was accompanied by Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed.

"Operation Umm al-Rabiain (Mother of Two Springs) has just started against those threatening the civilian population and attacking Iraqi forces in Mosul," defense ministry spokesman Khalaf told AFP.

"This operation is targeting terrorists and criminals," he said, alluding to Al-Qaeda, which has been accused of a string of major attacks across Nineveh province of which Mosul is the capital. Khalaf said some 560 people had been rounded up in the area since Tuesday.

Earlier this week, security forces announced a "new phase" in their operations in Nineveh, which borders both Syria and Turkey.

Officials said they advanced from the preparatory stage of the campaign to a full-scale offensive on Wednesday in a bid to flush out Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who are Sunni Arab insurgents loosely linked to the network of Osama bin Laden.

The US military confirmed that they were providing the Iraqi security forces with air cover, logistics support and intelligence. "The operation is conducted and led by Iraqi security forces, but we have a significant contribution to that," Major General Kevin Bergner said in Baghdad.

Shops closed and streets were empty in Mosul as the offensive got into full gear, residents said.

In February, Maliki had announced plans for a decisive battle against Al-Qaeda and called on the population to support the security forces to get rid of "terrorists."

On Wednesday, Maliki's office said that the Shiite premier wanted to intensify operations against Sunni insurgents in Mosul after what it called the success of an army offensive against Shiite militiamen in Baghdad and Basra.

In January, an explosion at an ammunition dump killed more than 60 people in Mosul and destroyed dozens of homes. The authorities blamed Al-Qaeda.

Ninevehs police chief was killed in a suicide bombing when he visited the site of the explosion the following day.

In Baghdad, US troops went from house to house on Wednesday in the militia stronghold of Sadr City looking for bombs and arms ahead of an Iraqi army deployment in line with a truce agreed on Saturday with the Shiite radical movement of Moqtada al-Sadr.

Motorcycles and trucks were also subjected to searches by sniffer dogs before being allowed into the impoverished east Baghdad district of some two million people.

Witnesses saw US tanks aiming their heavy weapons towards Sector Nine of Sadr City while the Americans carried out a tedious search procedure, questioning residents with the help of translators.

The operations were concentrated in the immediate neighbourhood of a wall the Americans have been building that cuts off one-third of Sadr City from the rest of the district.

AFP correspondents said that even the small arms traditionally owned by Iraqis were being confiscated.

The US military says the wall is intended to help reduce the smuggling in of rockets and mortars that have been used against the Green Zone compound where the Iraqi government and the US embassy are based.

Just one deadly exchange was reported overnight, when US troops killed two men suspected of planting a roadside bomb, a US military spokesman said.

"We welcome the reduced levels of violence because it benefits the Iraqi people," US Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover said.

Medics said the bodies of five people killed in clashes had been received at hospitals in Sadr City overnight.

A deal between Moqtada al-Sadrs Mahdi Army militia and the government to end violence was announced at the weekend and was set to go into full effect from Wednesday, according to the two sides.