Some 10,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by tanks, pushed deep into Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Baghdad bastion on Tuesday, stamping the government's authority on an area until now outside its control.
The army said they met no resistance as they moved into Sadr City in the early hours, securing three quarters of the sprawling slum where hundreds have been killed in weeks of fighting between US and Iraqi forces and Shia militants loyal to Sadr.
A truce 10 days ago between Shia factions largely ended the fighting in one of Baghdad's poorest districts and paved the way for Tuesday's operation. The truce agreement called on gunmen loyal to Sadr to lay down their arms and on the government to restore control over Sadr City.
Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police and columns of military vehicles moved into the suburb in the early hours, past burned-out wrecks of buildings and along rubble-strewn streets. "We are taking control of three quarters of (Sadr) city. What is left is the final quarter," said a spokesman for Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.
He said around 10,000 police and soldiers were involved. Fire-blackened and bullet-riddled buildings in the area gave testament to the recent fighting and US air and tank strikes in Sadr City, home to 2 million people. Tanks and armoured personnel carriers stood on corners, flying Iraqi flags, while army vehicles patrolled streets. Black-robed women walked nearby and children played.
Sadr City is the main stronghold of Sadr's Mehdi Army, a militia estimated to number tens of thousands that the US military once called the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. Shops and schools in the area were closed, residents said. A US military spokesman said no American troops were involved and the operation was Iraqi-planned and executed.
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