Iraqi forces sweep Kirkuk in insurgent crackdown

KIRKUK - Thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers swept through the restive Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday, searching homes for weapons and insurgents after all residents were ordered off the streets.

In northern Tal Afar, northwest of Kirkuk, a suicide car bomber killed 14 people in an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint, the latest in a series of deadly suicide bombings in the town since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

US military officials had predicted a surge in violence over Ramadan.

The Interior Ministry said 51 bodies had been found in Baghdad in the past 24 hours, many tortured and bound, a typical feature of sectarian death squad killings.

The bloodshed followed a warning by US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner that Iraq's government had 60 to 90 days to control the violence that threatens civil war or the United States would have to reconsider its options.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held talks with Sunni tribal leaders on Saturday and announced plans for reconstruction projects in western Anbar province, heartland of the Sunni insurgency.

An alliance of Sunni tribal leaders has promised to help Maliki's government root out al Qaeda militants who have set up bases in the province, making it the deadliest area in Iraq for US soldiers and largely outside Baghdad's control.

Maliki's government is under pressure from the Americans to show some progress in containing the insurgent and sectarian violence convulsing the country, and the crackdown in Kirkuk is one of several military operations now under way.

Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed city claimed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen which has seen an upsurge of violence. A spate of near simultaneous car bombs in the city killed more than 20 people on September 17.

Kirkuk police chief Major General Shirko Shakir said cars and pedestrians had been cleared from the city's streets after an indefinite curfew was imposed on Friday night and Iraqi security forces began sweeping through neighbourhoods.

More than 184 people had been arrested and 450 weapons seized, he said.

"This operation is an attempt to control the deterioration of the security situation in the city. We will continue it until we clean up the city and end insurgent activity," he said.

Iraqi police Major General Jamal Taher said a 15 km-long trench had been dug south of the city in the last week to try to prevent insurgents and car bombs from entering Kirkuk.

Iraqi forces have beefed up security in many cities, fearing an increase in violence with the start of Ramadan.

Saturday's car bomb attack in Tal Afar was the fourth suicide car bombing on an army or police checkpoint in the town since the start of the holy month two weeks ago.

US officials say sectarian conflict between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs has overtaken the insurgency as the main cause of attacks that kill some 100 Iraqis a day.

But insurgents are still killing US troops. The US military said a soldier was killed in action near the northern oil refinery town of Baiji on Friday, bringing to at least 24 the number of US soldiers killed in the last week.

- REUTERS