Thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers swept through the restive Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday, searching homes for weapons and insurgents after all residents were ordered off the streets, according to Reuters. Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed city claimed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen which has seen an upsurge of violence. A spate of near simultaneous car bombs in the city killed more than 20 people on Sept. 17. Kirkuk police chief Major General Shirko Shakir said cars and pedestrians had been cleared from the city's streets after an indefinite curfew was imposed on Friday night and Iraqi security forces began sweeping through neighbourhoods. More than 150 people had been arrested and large quantities of weapons and ammunition seized, he said. "This operation is an attempt to control the deterioration of the security situation in the city. We will continue it until we clean up the city and end insurgent activity," he said. Iraqi police Major General Jamal Taher said a 15 km-long trench had been dug south of the city in the last week to try to prevent insurgents and car bombs from entering Kirkuk.
