By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 34 people were
killed in bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday but the prime minister said a
security crackdown in the capital would leave militants nowhere to hide.
In a speech to parliament, Nuri al-Maliki urged
politicians on all sides to support his security plan, backed by 17,000 U.S.
military reinforcements and seen by many as a last chance to halt sectarian
violence in the capital.
"There will be no safe haven -- no school, no
home, no (Sunni) mosque or Shi'ite mosque. They will all be raided if they are
turned into a launch pad for terrorism, even the headquarters of political
parties," he said.
Maliki said his determination had already borne
fruit.
"I know that senior criminals have left
Baghdad, others have fled the country. This is good, this shows that our message
is being taken seriously," he said.
Some fear that militants may simply avoid
confrontation in the crackdown, betting that eventually U.S. troops will leave.
"There is a ... concern they might be lying
low, avoiding conflict now in order to fight another day," U.S. ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad said on Wednesday.
Criticised for not doing enough about Shi'ite
militias linked to some of his allies, Maliki has vowed to take on armed groups
regardless of sect or political affiliation.
"We have worked hard to get professional
officers to lead this plan, with no political affiliations. So let's all help
these officers," he said in response to criticism that the army and police were
infiltrated by sectarian militias.
Washington has identified the Mehdi Army, a
militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as the greatest threat
to security in Iraq and has warned that the success of Maliki's plan depends on
his going after Shi'ite militias with as much determination as he deals with
Sunni Arab insurgents.
MEHDI ARMY
The prime minister, who depends on Sadr's
political movement for support in parliament, has been accused of failing to
crack down on the Mehdi Army, but officials in his Shi'ite Alliance say he has
now accepted he must take action.
A senior member of the Sadrist movement, Bahaa
al-Araji, pledged the group's support for the plan in parliament, as did the
main Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties. The parliament voted unanimously to support
the plan.
Since Maliki announced his plan earlier this
month there has been a series of bombings and dozens of bodies are still found
dumped in the city on a daily basis, apparent victims of death squads.
Thirty-three were found on Wednesday alone.
A car bomb ripped through a shopping district
in Karrada in central Baghdad, killing 26 people and wounding 64, a police
source said.
Another car bomb and a motorcycle bomb exploded
in other markets, killing five people, while a roadside bomb killed three,
police said.
Two rockets landed in the heavily fortified
Green Zone housing the government and embassies, provoking loudspeaker warnings
to people to take cover. The U.S. military said six people were hurt.
Maliki said Iraqi security forces would start
to remove squatters from Baghdad homes they have illegally occupied since the
owners fled sectarian violence.
"Today or tomorrow we will start arresting
those who are living in the homes of refugees, to open the way for their
return," he said.
Tens of thousands of people, including Shi'ites,
Sunni Arabs and Christians, have fled Baghdad, where violence and intimidation
have turned many mixed districts into sectarian enclaves.
Maliki rejected suggestions his security plan
was a last chance: "The battle between us and terrorism is an open-ended battle.
It does not stop with the end of this plan."
White House spokesman Tony Snow welcomed
Maliki's speech as "a very assertive address", adding: "We certainly welcome
that because it demonstrates the kind of vigour that we've been talking about
and that the American people expect."
