IRAQ: Iraqi and Polish commanders say Military operation in Diwaniya will continue for the coming days in an attempt to regain control of the city

Iraqi and Polish commanders say operation in Diwaniya will continue for the coming days in an attempt to wrestle control of the city. Military operation in Diwaniya would continue over the coming days to regain control of the city, Iraqi and Polish military commanders said on Saturday. "The operation will continue when there is a necessity and until the city stabilises in a way that enables police forces to maintain security in the province and in particular in the city of Diwaniya," said Major General Pawel Lama Polish commander of the multi-national South-Centre Iraq Division. Iraqi forces, for their part said that the residents of the city support the operation, which aims at imposing law and order in the city. Colonel Michael Garrett, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, who also took part in the news conference said three U.S. soldiers had been wounded and two armoured Humvees destroyed in the fighting. The Iraqi army said three of its soldiers were wounded. Three gunmen were killed in Friday's clashes, the U.S. military said. Garrett said U.S.-Iraqi security stations were to be set up in the city, particularly in areas where militias operated. Similar bases set up in Baghdad as part of the crackdown there have helped reduce the daily murder rate in the capital. On Saturday, U.S. forces launched an air strike in Diwaniya as U.S. and Iraqi troops fought for a second day to overcome Shi'ite militias and bring the city back under government control. A local hospital source and a resident said six people, including two children and a woman, were killed in the missile strike on a home in the centre of the city, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Bleichwehl said one person had been killed when a warplane fired on gunmen carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Iraqi and U.S. forces launched Operation Black Eagle at dawn on Friday to restore the government's authority over a city where Shi'ite militias are a powerful and feared presence, particularly Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, which the Pentagon says is the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. The government said this week it was extending the nearly two-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad to other cities as it seeks to halt a slide into sectarian civil war. Diwaniya has been the scene of fierce battles between U.S. and Iraqi forces and militiamen in past months. Forty people were killed in street battles in October. Thirteen Iraqi soldiers were summarily executed when they ran out of ammunition and were captured during a firefight with Shi'ite militiamen in the city last August. The incident prompted questions about the capabilities of the new Iraqi army. Saturday's fighting Diwaniya concentrated in five central districts and gunmen were fighting back with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades in hit-and-run attacks, an Iraqi military source there said. Residents stayed indoors after U.S. helicopters dropped leaflets warning them not to venture out. A curfew has been in place since Friday. One resident reported hearing the sounds of explosions, gunfire and helicopters flying overhead. A source at the local hospital said it had received a total of 13 bodies and 41 wounded in the last 48 hours. Colonel Michael Garrett, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, said three U.S. soldiers had been wounded and two armoured Humvees destroyed in the fighting. The Iraqi army said three of its soldiers were wounded. Three gunmen were killed in Friday's clashes, the U.S. military said. Garrett said U.S.-Iraqi security stations were to be set up in the city, particularly in areas where militias operated. Similar bases set up in Baghdad as part of the crackdown there have helped reduce the daily murder rate in the capital.

ITN Source | April 8, 2007

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