U.S. and Iraqi efforts to dislodge al-Qaeda insurgents in the city of Baquba, outside Baghdad, continued today with U.S. and Iraqi officials complaining that more than 30 militants had been killed and Iraq’s Interior Ministry claiming locals were welcoming Iraqi security forces. But a bombing at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad killed 87 yesterday and underlined the fragility of progress against terrorist activity there.
U.S. officials were optmistic in reports today. In a discussion on CNN’s American Morning, General Ray Odierno said that the new troops afforded by the controversia “Surge” policy enabled U.S. forces to move toward a strategy of destroying, rather than dislodging insurgents. The New York Times reported that U.S. forces were attempting to block exit routes to prevent al Qaeda militants from escaping Baquba and resettling elsewhere. Many analysts have argued that U.S. and Iraqi forces cannot afford to repeat the shortcomings of U.S. Marine operations in Anbar Province, which enhanced security there, but led to many militants relocating to other parts of Iraq because Marines and their local allies did not have the manpower to prevent their escape. The report said that U.S. military leaders wanted to kill or capture between 3-500 al Qaeda fighters, a substantial percentage of al Qaeda’s organization in the so-called ‘Baghdad Belts,’ Sunni-dominated and al-Qaeda controlled cities, towns and villages outside of Baghdad that U.S. and Iraqi officials say are staging areas for suicide bombers and accelerants used to make bombs and booby traps that have hampered the surge in Baghdad.
U.S. troops intend to collect fingerprints and biometric data from local civilians in order to determine who is behind future bomb attacks. In addition, the Times report says that U.S. troops have entered into a relationship with former insurgents and tribal leaders against al Qaeda, a repeat of successful efforts in Anbar province to ‘peel off’ moderates, nationalists and tribal leaders from al Qaeda, which is widely identified with foreigners and has in the past attempted to impose harsh religious edicts on locals and on sometime collaborators from other insurgent groups. The Washington Post reported today that U.S. forces had entered into deals with the 1920 Revolutionary Brigade, a large and successful Baathist insurgent group, to fight against al Qaeda.
Mixed Success
Reports of initial successes in Baquba were mixed with news of another horrific suicide attack, this time on the Shiite Khalani mosqe less than a mile from the Green Zone in Baghdad. 87 people were killed when a massive carbomb severely damaged the mosque.
The Post indicated that U.S. and Iraqi officials are concerned that the bombing may indicate a tactical adjustment by al Qaeda. Initial reports indicate that the bomb was manufactured less than a mile away from the mosque in Baghdad. Previously, most bombs were imported from the Baghdad Rings, with U.S. and Iraqi military presence making it more difficult to move such weapons into Baghdad, the center of gravity for bomb production may have shifted to the city itself. Yet U.S. military officials have said that most bombs but not all are produced outside the city.
The blast struck at the heart of one of the country’s few remaining multiethnic and multisectarian neighborhoods, home to Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. The Times reported Sunni’s racing to the mosque to help pull their Shiite neighbors from the rubble. Sunni and Shia clerics called for joint prayers this Friday and Sunni’s speaking to correspondents expressed rage at al Qaeda and Iraqi terrorists.
Yet the rage was tempered with anger at the U.S. and the Iraqi government, with some arguing that the U.S. was unwilling to help stop terror against the Iraqi people. One man opined that if the U.S. could fix a space ship, it could stop terrorism against the Iraqis.
The Jordanian Al Bawba newspaper reported that gunmen, presumably linked to Shia militias, had undertaken reprisals against Sunni mosques in Baquba.
A late report from the Times reported “fierce battles” throughout Baquba and other parts of Diyalah province.
