Iraqi police draftees killed in attack

BAGHDAD, May 20 (UPI) -- As many as 11 police draftees were killed Tuesday in an attack on a recruitment station near the northern Iraq city of Mosul, police officials said.

The draftees were shot at the facility in the al-Baaj province west of the city, KUNA, the Kuwaiti news agency, reported.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi military official said there were no reports of violence Tuesday in Baghdad's Sadr City as Iraqi security forces began clearing mines and confiscating weapons, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Iraqi troops moved into the neighborhood after reaching an agreement to end weeks of fighting between government forces and militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. The pact is intended to restore stability and clear the area of weapons and outlaws.

Operation Peace and Security began at dawn, Maj. Gen. Qassim Musawi said. The Iraqi government plans to provide humanitarian aid and improve services once the military operation ends, he said.

U.S. forces aren't participating in the operation.

A U.S.military spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Steven Stover, said the operation was a "turning point where we start seeing ... criminals picked up by the Iraqi security forces and a lasting peace for the Iraqi people."