Security spreads beyond Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Iraqi forces and neighborhood security units worked alongside U.S.-led forces to rebuild some of the areas outside of Baghdad.

Iraqi security units participated in Operation Marne Thunderbolt with U.S.-led forces to interrupt al-Qaida activities in areas like Arab Jabour located south of the Iraqi capital.

Army Colonel Terry R. Ferrell, a commander of operations in areas south of Baghdad, said security and reconstruction efforts migrated beyond the immediate borders of the capital into "places we haven't been before," the American Forces Press Service said.

Ferrell said joint operations cleared the area of large caches of roadside bombs. "One battalion found 167 (roadside bombs) alone," Ferrell said.

The security situation in the area allowed many businesses to reopen, and U.S.-led operations are beginning to transition from security operations to neighborhood improvement efforts.

Ferrell said U.S.-led forces are working to bring local government officials together with their counterparts in the national government.

A member of the security unit, Sons of Iraq -- formerly Concerned Local Citizens -- said the insurgent uprising stoked the divisions between the two sects living in Iraq, but the recent calm in Arab Jabour and other districts allows some of the animosity to decrease.

Yassen Hussein, a Sunni living in Arab Jabour, said he is pleased to see his Shiite neighbors returning to the community as the security situation improves.

"(The insurgents) killed both sides to make a problem," he said.