The Iraqi government announced Thursday it will send more than 40,000 police and soldiers into the capital in an unprecedented operation to seal off the city and hunt insurgents who have launched a new wave of violence in the past weeks.

"We will divide Rasafa, the east side of Baghdad, into seven main areas, and Karkh, the west side of the capital, into 15 main areas, and the forces that will take part in the operation will be more than 40,000 security members," Defense Minister Sadoun al- Dulaimi told a press conference.

Dulaimi said next week's crackdown, dubbed Operation Thunder, would involve troops from the interior ministry and defense ministry. The operations would expand to other parts of the country after starting in Baghdad, he said.

"These operations will aim to turn the government's role from defensive to offensive," Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said at a press conference announcing the operation.

Despite the government's intention to rein in violence, more than 600 people have been killed as insurgents stepped up attacks against Iraqi officials and fledgling security forces amid a surge of violence since the new government was announced late last month.

On Thursday, violence claimed another 15 lives in Baghdad, including a car bomb that exploded near a police patrol, killing three policemen and two civilians and wounding 17 others.

The explosion took place at about 7:45 a.m. (0345 GMT) in northern Shu'la district of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden vehicle next to a police patrol, the police said.

A US helicopter was shot down Thursday night while supporting coalition forces near Baqouba, 56 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, while another was hit but returned safely, the US military said.

As the Iraqi government was preparing for next week's operation, the first major security action by Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein, US forces continued their security sweep in west Iraq.

US forces on Thursday continued Operation New Market, a security sweep in the town of Haditha, 200 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, where 1,000 US Marines and sailors, backed by Iraqi troops, are searching for militants.

The forces ordered at least one airstrike Thursday against a suspected insurgent position. At least 11 insurgents and one US Marine have been killed since the operation began Wednesday.

Some of the insurgents in Haditha are believed to be followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who heads al Qaida 's network in Iraq.

Confusion surrounded the fate of al-Zarqawi on Thursday amid reports that he had been wounded. Iraqi Interior Minister Baqer Jabur Solagh confirmed Thursday that al-Zarqawi had been wounded.

"We have received information that al-Zarqawi was wounded but we don't know how seriously," Jabur told a news conference jointly held with Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi.

Al Qaida Organization for Holy War in Iraq said Tuesday in an Internet statement that its leader Zarqawi had been wounded in fighting and urged Muslims to pray for his recovery.

Earlier Thursday, the militant group said it had appointed a deputy to lead the group's fighting until Zarqawi recovered.

Washington has placed a 25-million-dollar bounty on Zarqawi, who has claimed to mastermind a series of deadly suicide attacks, kidnappings and hostage beheadings.

Source: Xinhua