IRAQ: Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed yesterday to impose law and order in northern Iraq and said an offensive against al-Qaeda militants would end the "dark days" of shootings and bomb attacks.
Mr Maliki flew to Mosul on Wednesday to supervise a push against the Sunni Islamist militant group in what the US military says is its last major urban stronghold.
Buoyed by the success of a recent operation against Shia militias in the southern oil city of Basra, the prime minister said Iraq could not just rely on other countries for help, an apparent reference to the large US military presence in Iraq.
"We have come to Nineveh to restore security," Mr Maliki told reporters in Mosul. "Today, law and order is our message. We want to end the suffering in this province."
Iraqi officials hope the campaign, which started on Saturday and which is led by Iraqi security forces, will deliver a knockout blow to al-Qaeda fighters where they have regrouped in Mosul and the surrounding province of Nineveh.
Defence ministry spokesman Maj-Gen Mohammed al-Askari said one of the objectives was to round up wanted insurgents. Military officials said some 500 suspects had already been detained.
Mr Maliki appears to be trying to show that Iraq can increasingly take care of its own security without constantly turning to the 155,000 US troops in the country.
Iraq's security forces have grown to more than 500,000 under US training. American commanders say they have made progress but still have a long way to go before they constitute a professional fighting force.
"The solution to Iraqi problems is in our hands. He who runs to other countries to solve his problems is making a mistake," Mr Maliki said.
US military commanders have warned that al-Qaeda, while weakened, still has the capability to carry out big attacks. Al-Qaeda has regrouped after being pushed out of Baghdad and their former stronghold of western Anbar province by US and Iraqi forces.
In violence on Wednesday that bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda, a suicide bomber killed 25 people at a funeral west of Baghdad attended by Sunni Arab tribes opposed to the group.
Iraqi troops took control of Basra within a week in late March, but fighting between Shia gunmen and security forces spread to Baghdad and raged for weeks. Sporadic clashes have continued despite a weekend ceasefire.
Seven people were killed and 19 wounded in clashes, police and hospital officials said. -