Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Los Angeles Times
October 16, 2007 The U.S. military, in a series of operations, targets the group it considers its chief obstacle to establishing security.
By Christian Berthelsen and Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
BAGHDAD —The U.S. military announced Monday that it had killed three suspected terrorists with ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq and captured 30 more in a series of operations in central and northern Iraq between Saturday and early Monday.
The United States still considers the group its chief obstacle to establishing security in Iraq, but U.S. military leaders have been encouraged by a recent series of successful strikes.
The blows against the group in the last three days came after strikes last week near Tharthar Lake in the northern province of Salahuddin in which the military said 19 suspected leaders of the group were killed. Those strikes also killed 15 civilians.
On Saturday, U.S. forces killed the three suspected terrorists in an airstrike on two boats southwest of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The U.S. launched the attack after a man under surveillance boarded a boat and later rendezvoused with a second craft, and people aboard began transferring weapons and equipment, military officials said. Ground forces later found a weapons cache at a site tied to one of the men aboard.
For most of the year, the U.S. command in Baghdad has described operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq as its "main effort." Many units sent to Iraq as part of the U.S. troop buildup this year were stationed outside the capital in an area known as the Baghdad belts to try to eliminate havens used by insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda.
The bulk of those operations were considered successful, and the number of major bombings in Baghdad during the U.S. "surge" showed a decline. The developments prompted military officials in September to consider whether they had been successful enough against Al Qaeda in Iraq to formally label the group their secondary target.
However, after a slight increase in attacks attributed to insurgents tied to Al Qaeda, top military leaders shelved any proposal to change strategy or target priorities. And they are loath to declare victory over a resilient enemy, only to have it come back and pull off another large-scale attack, a senior military official based in Baghdad said.
The group has proved its ability to continue to launch attacks even in a weakened state, and has showed itself to be a tough enemy to vanquish in Diyala, Salahuddin and even Anbar province, where the U.S. military said it has had its greatest successes against the group. Just a month ago, insurgents killed Sheik Abdul Sattar Rishawi, the leader of an anti-Al Qaeda tribal group who was perhaps the U.S.'s most high-profile ally in Anbar.
Asked during a recent tour of Baghdad's Karada district if the U.S. had reached a "tipping point" against Al Qaeda in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said: "I wouldn't say that for the whole country. . . . There are areas where Al Qaeda is trying to come back, certainly. And where local forces are holding their own but have to go out and do more work. So again this is still very much a work in progress."
Meanwhile, as many as five civilians were killed and 20 wounded in clashes between Shiite Muslim militants and Western military forces in the southern city of Diwaniya, including a number of children, police said.
The fighting began Monday morning with shelling of U.S. and Polish military bases in the region, and lasted for at least an hour. U.S. forces launched airstrikes in return. There were no immediate reports of casualties among the military, but police and hospital sources said up to five civilians were killed and 20 were wounded. It was not clear if the civilian injuries resulted from the initial attacks by militants or from the military's return fire.
In the southern city of Basra, the body of a professor from Baghdad University was found in a street. The academic, Amin Abdul-Aziz, had been kidnapped recently from his home in Basra.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into a public square in the Harthiya area, where children were playing to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The bombing killed four people and wounded 25, police said.
Times staff writers Usama Redha and Saif Rasheed contributed to this report.
October 16, 2007 The U.S. military, in a series of operations, targets the group it considers its chief obstacle to establishing security.
By Christian Berthelsen and Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
BAGHDAD —The U.S. military announced Monday that it had killed three suspected terrorists with ties to Al Qaeda in Iraq and captured 30 more in a series of operations in central and northern Iraq between Saturday and early Monday.
The United States still considers the group its chief obstacle to establishing security in Iraq, but U.S. military leaders have been encouraged by a recent series of successful strikes.
The blows against the group in the last three days came after strikes last week near Tharthar Lake in the northern province of Salahuddin in which the military said 19 suspected leaders of the group were killed. Those strikes also killed 15 civilians.
On Saturday, U.S. forces killed the three suspected terrorists in an airstrike on two boats southwest of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The U.S. launched the attack after a man under surveillance boarded a boat and later rendezvoused with a second craft, and people aboard began transferring weapons and equipment, military officials said. Ground forces later found a weapons cache at a site tied to one of the men aboard.
For most of the year, the U.S. command in Baghdad has described operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq as its "main effort." Many units sent to Iraq as part of the U.S. troop buildup this year were stationed outside the capital in an area known as the Baghdad belts to try to eliminate havens used by insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda.
The bulk of those operations were considered successful, and the number of major bombings in Baghdad during the U.S. "surge" showed a decline. The developments prompted military officials in September to consider whether they had been successful enough against Al Qaeda in Iraq to formally label the group their secondary target.
However, after a slight increase in attacks attributed to insurgents tied to Al Qaeda, top military leaders shelved any proposal to change strategy or target priorities. And they are loath to declare victory over a resilient enemy, only to have it come back and pull off another large-scale attack, a senior military official based in Baghdad said.
The group has proved its ability to continue to launch attacks even in a weakened state, and has showed itself to be a tough enemy to vanquish in Diyala, Salahuddin and even Anbar province, where the U.S. military said it has had its greatest successes against the group. Just a month ago, insurgents killed Sheik Abdul Sattar Rishawi, the leader of an anti-Al Qaeda tribal group who was perhaps the U.S.'s most high-profile ally in Anbar.
Asked during a recent tour of Baghdad's Karada district if the U.S. had reached a "tipping point" against Al Qaeda in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said: "I wouldn't say that for the whole country. . . . There are areas where Al Qaeda is trying to come back, certainly. And where local forces are holding their own but have to go out and do more work. So again this is still very much a work in progress."
Meanwhile, as many as five civilians were killed and 20 wounded in clashes between Shiite Muslim militants and Western military forces in the southern city of Diwaniya, including a number of children, police said.
The fighting began Monday morning with shelling of U.S. and Polish military bases in the region, and lasted for at least an hour. U.S. forces launched airstrikes in return. There were no immediate reports of casualties among the military, but police and hospital sources said up to five civilians were killed and 20 were wounded. It was not clear if the civilian injuries resulted from the initial attacks by militants or from the military's return fire.
In the southern city of Basra, the body of a professor from Baghdad University was found in a street. The academic, Amin Abdul-Aziz, had been kidnapped recently from his home in Basra.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives into a public square in the Harthiya area, where children were playing to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The bombing killed four people and wounded 25, police said.
Times staff writers Usama Redha and Saif Rasheed contributed to this report.