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Iraqi Army Rolls Into Sadr City

No bloodshed so far in peaceful takeover

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted May 20, 2008 9:08 AM CDT

(Newser) – Roughly 10,000 Iraqi troops peacefully marched deep into Sadr City today, the Baghdad ghetto that’s long been a stronghold for Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army. The incursion was part of a deal negotiated with Sadr last week, which allowed for inspections so long as the US wasn't involved. "It's like a normal day here," said one resident.

US troops were involved only peripherally today, standing by in case they were needed, a military spokesman said. Until the truce, Sadr City had been a major battlefield between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army since early April. Before that, the government largely left the militia alone.

Iraqi soldiers stand guard by a wall built recently by U.S. forces in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.
Iraqi soldiers stand guard by a wall built recently by U.S. forces in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Iraqis soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2008.
Iraqis soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2008.   (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in front of a poster showing a radical anti-US cleric Muqtada al Sadr  in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in front of a poster showing a radical anti-US cleric Muqtada al Sadr in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City  in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City  in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 20, 2004.   (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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