Security sweep in Baghdad

Baghdad: Iraq imposed draconian new security rules on its war-torn capital yesterday as US President George W. Bush accused Iranian agents of supplying weapons that have killed scores of American troops.

The plan - now dubbed Fard Al Qanun or Operation Law and Order - swung into effect with thousands of Iraqi troops throwing up roadblocks and carrying out searches across the city as US jet bombers roared overhead.

Political tensions were also running high, with supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr denying a claim by the US military that the figurehead of the feared Mehdi Army had fled across the border to Iran. A US official told reporters that US forces "closely track" Al Sadr and believe that he left Iraq last month and travelled to Iran. Despite denials, the cleric's supporters failed to produce him.

"Today, the Baghdad security plan is in effect. There will be no safe haven for outlaws, even in holy places, because human life is holier," Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said during a visit to Karbala. Under a decree issued Tuesday, a joint Iraqi police and military force will have sweeping new emergency-style powers to deal with unrest.

Nevertheless, US officers and Bush himself warned that the plan - which by May will see 84,000 American and Iraqi personnel in the neighbourhoods and streets of Baghdad - would take time to turn back the tide of violence.

"It's a plan that's beginning to take shape," Bush said at his first press conference of 2007, cautioning that "the operation to secure Baghdad is going to take time, and there will be violence".

Meanwhile, a US soldier died yesterday after coming under fire from insurgents north of Baghdad, while A Task Force Lightning soldier died on Tuesday, the military said.