Source:
AFPBAGHDAD (AFP) - US and Iraqi forces plan to stay put in a southern sector of Baghdad's Sadr City where they are battling militiamen rather than push deeper into the Shiite bastion, a top US general said on Monday.
There are "no plans to go beyond where we are," said Major General Jeffery Hammond, commander of US forces in Baghdad.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP on Sunday that the operations launched more than a week ago would carry on until the sprawling district in eastern Baghdad is entirely cleared of Shiite gunmen.
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But Hammond said the main aim of the push into Sadr City was to stop lethal rocket attacks from Sadr City into the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and US embassy.
"My aim is to push the 107-mm rockets out of range," Hammond told a group of journalists from Western media outlets on Monday.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080414/pl_afp/iraqunrestussadrcity_080414160815