Bush makes surprise visit to Baghdad

Baghdad (Iraq): President Bush arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday on an unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

It marks Bush's first visit since al-Maliki took office recently.

The trip comes as at least 70,000 forces - most of them Iraqi - will be deployed on Wednesday on the streets of Baghdad in an effort to bring security to the Iraqi capital, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

The crackdown will include Iraqi police, police commandos, soldiers and emergency police as well as US-led coalition forces, the ministry said.

They will enforce checkpoints on Baghdad's roads as well as a 9 PM to 6 AM curfew. There also will be a ban on carrying weapons.

Coalition forces will offer air support if needed.

The forces will wear new uniforms to distinguish them from insurgents who often wear fake outfits to carry out attacks.

Raids will be stepped up against suspected insurgent hideouts. Officials said they expect clashes, especially in Sunni-dominated neighborhoods.

Officials said it's the largest operation since the US turnover to Iraqis in June 2004.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to deploy Iraqi forces to end the spike in sectarian strife in Baghdad in recent months.

In violence Tuesday, one Iraqi police officer was killed and five others wounded when two roadside bombs hit their patrol near a bridge in southeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

Also, Iraqi police found six bodies shot dead and showing signs of torture in neighborhoods of the capital, the official said.

Gunmen killed Hani Aref Jassim, a professor at Baghdad University's College of Engineering, in western Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood.

On Tuesday, at least five car bombs exploded during a two-hour period in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 14 people and wounding 20 others, a police and morgue officials said.

The attacks targeted two high-ranking police officials, including the police chief, an Iraqi police patrol and an office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Police casualties included two among the dead and six wounded.

Kirkuk is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Baghdad.