10,000 US Soldiers Launch Attack on Al-Qaida in Iraq

Jun 19, 04:38 PM

Current Headlines: By Paul Wilson

ABOUT 10,000 US soldiers launched an offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq, north-east of Baghdad, today, killing at least 22 insurgents, the US military said.

The raids, dubbed Operation Arrowhead Ripper, took place in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province, and involved air assaults under cover of darkness.

Ten thousand US soldiers were accompanied by attack helicopters and armoured vehicles, a military spokesman said.

The operation is part of new US and Iraqi attacks on Baghdad's northern and southern flanks aimed at clearing out Sunni insurgents, al-Qaida fighters and Shia militiamen who had fled the capital and Anbar during a four-month-old security operation.

A US military official said American forces were taking advantage of the arrival of the final brigade of 30,000 additional US troops to open the concerted attacks.

He said: "We are going into the areas that have been sanctuaries of al-Qaida and other extremists to take them on and weed them out, to help get the areas clear and to really take on al-Qaida. Those are areas in the belts around Baghdad, some parts in Anbar province and specifically Diyala province."

Al-Qaida has proven to be an extremely agile foe for US and Iraqi forces, as shown by its ability to transfer major operations to Baqouba from Anbar province, the sprawling desert region in western Iraq. There is no guarantee that driving the organisation out of current sanctuaries would prevent it from migrating to other regions to continue the fight.

In recent months, the orange and palm groves of Diyala have become one of the most fiercely contested regions in Iraq. The province is a tangle of Shia and Sunni villages that has played into the hands of al-Qaida and allied militants who have melted into the tense region and sought to inflame existing sectarian troubles.

Al-Qaida has conducted public executions in the Baqouba main square and otherwise sought to enforce an extreme Taliban-style Islamic code. The terror organization's actions in the province have caused some Sunni militants, al-Qaida's natural allies, to turn their guns on the group with American assistance and blessing. Some militant Shias are likewise joining government forces in a bid to oust the foreign fighters and Muslim extremists.

The death toll in sectarian violence rocketed yesterday after a brief period of relative peace. At least 111 people were killed or found dead nationwide, with 33 bodies of torture victims found in Baghdad alone. In the south, Iraqi officials reported as many as 36 people were killed in fierce overnight fighting that began as British and Iraqi forces conducted house-to-house searches in Amarah, a stronghold of the Shia Mahdi Army militia.

The US military issued a statement that said at least 20 people were killed in clashes with coalition forces. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said British soldiers played a supporting role to Iraqi security forces during the raid and fighting in Amarah.

Clashes between Mahdi Army fighters and Iraqi security forces continued into a second day today in another southern Iraqi city, Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Eight people were killed there a day earlier, and more than 60 injured, mostly policemen. Nine mortar shells were launched early at Iraqi police headquarters in the town today, and three policemen were injured. Two civilians were wounded in another round of shelling in a residential area nearby.

(c) 2007 Evening News; Edinburgh (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.