Iraq says violence down in month-old Baghdad plan

Reuters

Civilian deaths and militant attacks in Baghdad have fallen sharply since a U.S.-backed Baghdad security plan was launched a month ago, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Wednesday.

Brigadier Qassim Moussawi said the number of Iraqis killed by violence in the capital since Feb. 14 was 265 -- a sharp reduction from the 1,440 Iraqis killed in the 30-day period before the plan went into effect.

The number of car bombings was down to 36 from 56, Moussawi told a news conference. Roadside bombs, mortar attacks, kidnappings and assassinations were also down.

Moussawi said the plan, seen as the last chance to stop Iraq from descending into all-out sectarian civil war, had led to an increase in attacks in the area surrounding Baghdad, but he vowed security forces would pursue the militants.

General Abboud Qanbar, the commander of the offensive, warned militants to abandon their fight or face further force.

"I present a clear message to those terrorists and those who don't want the plan to succeed and return security to Baghdad ... to recalculate their positions and return to using logic and the correct path before its too late," he said.

"Otherwise the feet of Mesopotamia's honourable soldiers will crush them and throw them into the garbage of history," Qanbar added.

There are about 100,000 Iraqi and U.S. forces attempting to pacify the violent capital by aiming to clear neighbourhoods of militias and insurgents and maintaining a strong presence to deter them from returning.