Iraqi Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar, a Shiite named to lead the crackdown, will take charge Monday and the operation will begin "very soon thereafter," US adviser Col. Douglass Heckman said.

On Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said about 1,000 Iraqis - including civilians, security forces and gunmen - had been killed in the last week alone. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the figures.

Figures tallied by The Associated Press from police and government statements put the death toll from Jan. 28 until Saturday at 911.

That included 137 people killed Saturday in a massive truck bombing in the mostly Shiite Sadriyah market in central Baghdad. The explosion was fifth major bombing in less than a month against Shiite targets in Baghdad and Hillah.

It was also the deadliest in the capital since a string of car bombs and mortars killed at least 215 people in the Shiite district of Sadr City on Nov. 23.

Public anger over the attack welled up during a meeting Sunday between a delegation of Sadriyah residents and Iraqi parliament members. The head of the delegation, Talib Nawrouz, demanded that the government implement the new security plan quickly to end the bloodshed.

"We demand the government start the new security plan, implement the counter terrorism law, and support the families specially the injuries" he added.

Deputy parliament speaker Khalid al-Attiyah, a Shiite, expressed condolences and told the delegation that the bombing showed "what the future will be like if those terrorists take power."

But Caldwell, the military spokesman, urged Iraqis to be patient, warning that the upcoming crackdown would not improve security overnight.

"People must be patient. Give the government and coalition forces a chance to fully implement it. It will take some time for additional Iraqi and US forces to be deployed," Caldwell said.

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