Operation Lightning: The Battle of Baghdad
Charles Johnson
Sun May 29, 2005 at 6:05 pm PDT • Views: 210
Battles are raging in the streets of Baghdad, as 40,000 Iraqi police root out the head-chopping holy warriors: Insurgents Kill 30 As Iraqis Crack Down.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police fought pitched battles with insurgents Sunday as thousands of security forces backed by American troops swept through Baghdad’s streets to flush out militants responsible for killing more than 720 people since Iraq’s new government was announced in April.
Insurgents lashed back — killing at least 30 people, including a British soldier — and a senior U.S. military intelligence official acknowledged there are few indications they “are packing their bags.”
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for nearly all the attacks in Internet statements that could not be independently verified.
In their biggest coup of “Operation Lightning,” Iraqi and U.S. soldiers arrested a former general in Saddam Hussein’s intelligence service who was also a member of his Fedayeen secret police during a raid in western Baghdad, the scene of some of Sunday’s heaviest fighting.
“He now leads the military wings of several terror cells operating in the west Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliyah,” the military said in its announcement about the former general. It did not release his name or provide further details.
Frank says: