On Sunday, in areas closer to Sadr City, parents slapped away the candy and lollipops given to children by soldiers.

"The Baghdad security plan is very important to push Iraq ahead," said Haider al-Obeidi, a parliament member from the Dawa party of al-Maliki.

The Baghdad crackdown has sent ripples through all corners of the country. The borders with Iran and Syria - shut for three days as the plan got under way - reopened Sunday. But new and strict rules will apply.

Moussawi, the plan's spokesman, was quoted in the Azzaman newspaper as saying the crossing points to the two nations would be open for only several hours a day and under "intense observation."

The United States and allies claim Iraqi militants receive aid and supplies from Iran, including parts for lethal roadside bombs targeting US forces. Iran denies any role in trafficking weapons.

In Buhriz, a Sunni-dominated town about 35 miles north of Baghdad, US and Iraqi soldiers kicked in doors and scoured homes, but most dwellings were eerily empty.

Soldiers confiscated new Iraqi army uniforms in a building not known to house troops, along with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and AK-47 magazines. There has been growing suspicion that militants have posed as Iraqi soldiers in some attacks and ambushes.

In another house, medical supplies were scattered about - saline bottles, IV bags, syringes - in what soldiers believe was a makeshift aid station for insurgents.

In Tehran, Syrian President Bashar Assad held talks with Iranian leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahamedinejad. The two leaders are generally on opposing sides of Iraq's sectarian divide: Iran backs the majority Shiites, and Syria is seen as a key supporter of Sunnis.

But Iran denied US and Iraqi government reports that the cleric al-Sadr has crossed over from Iraq. Conflicting reports about his whereabouts have surfaced for nearly a week.

"No, he is not in Iran," Mohammad Ali Hoseini, spokesman for the ministry, told journalists during a regular press briefing in Iran's first comment on the issue. "The report is baseless and a kind of psychological warfare against Iran by the US to put more pressure on Iran."

Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army is widely believed to receive Iranian money and weapons - as do other Shiite groups here - but his political wing is part of Iraq's US-backed government.

Two more US soldiers have been killed in action, the US military said. Both were killed Saturday: one by a grenade in a northern neighborhood of Baghdad; the other from gunfire north of the city, the military said.

As of Sunday, at least 3,137 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,514 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

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