Thursday, February 08, 2007

U.S. troops open Joint Security Station in Doura neighborhood of Baghdad

An Infantry man scans the perimeter at the Joint Security Station in Doura

American and Iraqi forces have opened a Joint Security Station in the Doura neighborhood of Baghdad, pushing forward with a key element of President Bush’s new security plan.

The JSS positions, as they are called, are in the middle of neighborhoods and designed to give ground forces a closer presence in areas of the capital prone to violence.

The Doura station will be manned by the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment — attached to the 1st Cavalry Division — and Iraqi army and police forces.

U.S. military officials called Doura “notorious” and “one of the most dangerous parts of the capital,” and said the JSS represented a continued “focus for coalition forces trying to maintain a peace in the neighborhood.”

The first priority for U.S. troops has been cleaning up the Doura market area, officials said.

Read the rest at Stars and Stripes