BAGHDAD – With not a Shiite fighter in sight, shoppers crowded into markets and cars packed the streets in Baghdad's Sadr City yesterday – a positive early sign for Iraqi forces in their bid to impose control after a truce with the militia in its stronghold.
But while peace held in the sprawling slum a day after thousands of Iraqi troops rolled in, there were indications that militants were increasing their activity elsewhere. Skirmishes broke out in some nearby districts, including a clash that the U.S. military said killed 11 Shiite gunmen in the nearby New Baghdad area. Three of the 11 were killed after they were seen planting roadside bombs, the military said.
Support for anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is high among Sadr City's 2.5 million residents, nearly half the population of Baghdad. Many see his Mahdi army fighters as their protectors against Sunni insurgents and the distrusted American forces.
Yesterday, however, people seemed relieved by the deployment and the calm it brought after weeks of clashes between the Mahdi army militia and allied U.S. and Iraqi troops on the edges of the district and in its southern sector.
Alaa Jassem, a day laborer, said the Iraqi troops were welcome – “they are our brothers, our sons, our friends” – but added that the government “must be sincere in its promises and deliver aid to the city.”
The Iraqi government has said that as part of the deployment, it will direct funds for reconstruction in Sadr City, which is plagued by poor sewage systems that often overflow, drinking-water shortages and poor garbage collection.
Success in Sadr City would be a major boost to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose government is trying to show that it can extend its authority over parts of the country long under the control of armed groups.
Much depends on the durability of a truce reached last week between the government and the Mahdi army. None of the black-garbed fighters was seen on the streets yesterday, and Sadrist movement officials say they will stick by the cease-fire. But some have already complained about the unexpected size of the deployment, saying it could provoke the fighters, who still have their weapons.
Ten thousand Iraqi soldiers and police, backed with tanks, moved into Sadr City early Tuesday in the biggest government effort yet to impose control in the bastion of the Mahdi army.
Yesterday, Iraqi forces sought to solidify their hold on the district. The troops assumed a high profile in the streets, but appeared to be working delicately to avoid provocations.
Soldiers set up more positions and patrols on the main avenues, sometimes stopping their vehicles to establish a temporary checkpoint, but searches of passers-by were rare. One checkpoint stood near the main office the Sadrist Movement, and a tank was positioned in a nearby square.
On Gayara Street, a main avenue running the length of Sadr City, cars, motorcycles and minibuses were jammed – a stark contrast from recent weeks – and soldiers joined police in directing traffic. Some residents brought water for soldiers, and a nearby market was bustling, with sellers announcing their prices on loudspeakers.
Hussein Qassim reopened his barbershop, located on the front line of the battles, for the first time since a government crackdown on militias in Basra in early April triggered the uprising in Sadr City. Nearby buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes, and one was nearly demolished.
“Before the cease-fire, life was impossible,” Qassim said at his shop. “But now my customers have returned like normal.”
The shop is only yards from a concrete wall that U.S. troops have been erecting across the width of Sadr City, dividing the southern sectors held by U.S. forces from the bulk of the district.
