Infighting hampering Baghdad crackdown
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Iraqi commanders are urging the Americans to go after Sunni targets as the first focus of the military push to secure Baghdad, displaying a sectarian tilt that is delaying full implementation of the plan to drive gunmen from the streets, U.S. officers say.
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U.S. and Iraqi forces are struggling to ease sectarian tension in one of Iraq's most volatile areas where much of the population seeking security turns to terrorists, not Iraqi troops or police, a U.S. commander said on Friday.
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Clashes on the streets of Baghdad between one of Iraq's main home-grown insurgent groups and members of an al Qaeda-led militant movement have exposed a deepening rift within Iraq's Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
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This week's intense clashes between the Iraqi army and a Shiite militia are part of a strategy to whittle away the power of a radical cleric. But the high-risk gambit could trigger more fighting across the Shiite south &#151; at a time when the cleric's stronghold in the capital is virtually off-limits.
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Clashes broke out between insurgents and Iraqi security forces in northern Baghdad on Friday, a police source said.
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A heavy gunfight broke out Monday on a dangerous street in central Baghdad within blocks of the countryâs most fortified facilities, including the US Embassy and interim Iraqi government headquarters.
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Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told lawmakers on Monday his government had stopped Iraq sliding into civil war and said violence in and around Baghdad had plunged under a U.S.-backed security crackdown.
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Heavy fighting erupted on Sunday in a  street in central Baghdad notorious as a guerrilla stronghold,  and witnesses said at least five Iraqis were killed as U.S.  helicopters attacked targets in the area.
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Walls are an emotive issue in Baghdad. Towering concrete barriers have mushroomed across Iraq's capital, put up by U.S. forces striving to cripple Sunni and Shi'ite militants.
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A firefight broke out between U.S. troops and militants today in Baghdad's Sadr City as coalition forces targeted a man they said was a leader in an Iranian-funded kidnapping operation. At least 13 people were killed and 60 others were reported wounded in the densely populated Shiite slum where there is strong support for Iran and anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
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Civilian deaths and car bombs have fallen sharply in Baghdad since a U.S.-backed crackdown began a month ago, but attacks outside the capital were rising as militants change tactics, Iraqi officials said on Wednesday.
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Machinegun fire rained from U.S. helicopters in central Baghdad on Friday as U.S. and Iraqi troops clashed with gunmen during a raid on suspected militant hideouts, Iraqi security officials and witnesses said.
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A heavy gunfight broke out Monday on a dangerous street in central Baghdad within blocks of the country's most fortified facilities, including the U.S. Embassy and interim Iraqi government headquarters. Five more American troops were killed in the volatile Anbar province.
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Intensified military raids in Iraq over the past few months have significantly battered the ranks of mid-level insurgents but have scored few gains against the 30 or so most wanted rebels, according to senior U.S. military officers in Baghdad.
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BAGHDAD -- US soldiers battled insurgents northeast of Baghdad yesterday in clashes that killed more than 50 people. Some guerrillas were said to be ''fighting to the death&quot; inside Fallujah, where American forces struggled to clear pockets of resistance.
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At least 10 people are killed in fighting in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, between US forces and suspected Shia militants.
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A new round of talks to cease hostilities in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City has ended in deadlock, with fighters loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr refusing American demands to disband and turn in weapons, both sides said Sunday.