By Xinhua,
Baghdad : Iraqi Army peacefully entered the major Shiite militia stronghold in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, after weeks of clashes with U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces, a security source said.
Hundreds of heavily armed Iraqi troops moved deep inside the sprawling Sadr City neighborhood and took control of most of the Shiite slum without resistance from the Mahdi Army militiamen, loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The source said that the troops conducted a new operation dubbed “Operation Peace” at dawn aimed at clearing the area from mines planted earlier by militiamen and to detain all the wanted men.
The operation would also include providing basic services for the residents of the neighborhood, the source added.
The new operation came after the Iraqi government struck a deal with Sadr followers to end weeks of fierce street battles that killed more than 1,000 people and wounded thousands others.