Fierce battles, air power in offensive against Sunni neighborhood; 50 'insurgents' killed

US and Iraqi soldiers, backed by American warplanes, killed 50 suspected insurgents in an hours-long battle today in central Baghdad, the Iraqi defense ministry said.

US jet fighters and helicopters flashed through the skies over the Haifa Street area just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the battle raged through the morning and much of the afternoon.

Witnesses said they had seen the aircraft firing into the combat zone, and explosions rang out over the city.

Maj Gen Ibrahim Shaker, a defence ministry spokesman, said 21 militants were captured, including seven foreign Arabs - three Syrians, a Sudanese and three others.

"Today's operation was designed to purge Haifa Street and nearby neighbourhoods from terrorists," Shaker said.

Police said the clashes began when gunmen attacked Iraqi army checkpoints, and that Iraqi soldiers called for US military help.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraqi forces had decided to wipe out "terrorist hide-outs" in the area once and for all.

"God willing, Haifa Street will never threaten the Iraqi people again," he said.

Read the rest at the Belfast Telegraph

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