Iraq sent its army deep into Baghdad's Sadr City on Tuesday to stamp government authority on areas previously outside its control. Soldiers moved into the slum in the early hours, securing most of the suburb in an operation that an army spokesman said had been coordinated with Muqtada Sadr's movement to avoid bloodshed.
The operation, on the second anniversary of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki being sworn in, marked the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003 that the Iraqi army had pushed so deeply into the area. "The security forces have taken control of security for the city completely, God willing," Major-General Qassim Moussawi, a spokesman for the security forces in Baghdad, told a news briefing on "Operation Peace".
According to Reuters, U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover said no American troops were involved in the operation which he said was Iraqi-planned and -executed.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor in the trial of former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz called for a stiff penalty on Tuesday to ease the "hearts of the widows" of dozens of merchants he is charged with helping execute. Aziz went on trial last month but the case was adjourned until Tuesday. The traders were killed after being accused of breaking price controls imposed in the wake of U.N. sanctions on Iraq in 1990s.
The 72-year-old Aziz was joined by his seven co-defendants in the case. "We ask that the court decides on a suitable punishment that will ease the hearts of the widows," prosecutor Adnan Ali said. He said some family members of the merchants were killed.
"There was a systematic campaign planned under the cover of darkness. Its villains were members of the Revolutionary Command Council and security agencies," Ali said, according to Reuters.
