BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces took the battle for Baghdad to the insurgents Sunday, netting 500 in an unprecedented domestic sweep of the capital's mean streets, as new bomb blasts killed nine soldiers and two civilians.
"Search operations and raids have allowed us to arrest 500 people and find arms caches in several houses," government spokesman Leith Kubba said as Operation Lightning was unleashed in the baking heat of the violence-weary city.
"Terrorist networks are having trouble moving around Baghdad and other regions," he claimed.
Flak-jacketed soldiers and police, some masked to avoid reprisals, carried out detailed vehicle searches, focusing on white Volkswagen Passat sedans known locally as "Brazilians" following a tip that some were packed with explosives.
The high profile and tough talk was quickly tempered however by two suicide bombings that killed nine soldiers and two civilians.
Baghdad has become the scene of many such bombings and Iraqi forces must prove the massive operation involving 40,000 soldiers and police can halt insurgent attacks in the capital.
More than 650 have died in bombings and shootings nationwide this month alone, unusually high even by Iraq's bloody standards.
A defense ministry source said: "The army has set up fixed checkpoints around Baghdad as well as mobile controls, and raids have been launched in the city."
Authorities planned to divide the capital into 22 sectors and establish 675 fixed points alongside an undetermined number of mobile roadblocks.
The sweep is billed as the biggest Iraqi-led operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003, and followers of the deposed dictator were pulling back towards their tribal homelands, according to Kubba.
Insurgent operations "have now moved to Sunni majority towns in northwestern Iraq", he said, adding that the army was bracing for anticipated counter-attacks.
"We are expecting reactions but this will have no effect on the general course of the operation."
Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi had unveiled Operation Lightning on Thursday, saying: "We're going to set up a security cordon around Baghdad ... and it will be impossible for terrorists to cross."
The plan would soon be extended to the provinces as well, he said.
"The objective is to pass from a defensive position to an offensive one and to put the capacities of defence and interior ministry forces to the best use."
05/29/2005 13:26 GMT