Text 27681, 78 rader
Skriven 2007-03-08 16:23:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Iraq
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Say it isn't so.....  Where is Cindy ?  She's gotten awful quiet.

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http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/07/front2454168.054861111.html

U.S. reports 80 percent drop in Iraq insurgency strikes 
 


SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, March 8, 2007 
BAGHDAD — The U.S. Army has reported a sharp decrease in insurgency 
attacks in Baghdad. 


 
In the week of Feb. 24 to March 2, officials said, insurgency strikes 
and suicide bombings dropped for the fourth consecutive week in Baghdad. 
They linked this to the steady increase of security patrols in the city.
The army said violence has decreased by 80 percent in the most 
insurgency-ridden areas of Baghdad. Officials said Shi'ite and Sunni 
insurgents have been overwhelmed by the current joint Iraqi-U.S. 
operation in the Iraqi capital.

However as Shi'ite fighters have gone underground, Sunnis have launched 
a campaign of car bombings and other violence against Shi'ite civilians.

Brig. Gen. John Campbell, deputy commander of Multi-National Division-
Baghdad, told a briefing on March 6 that 19 people were killed in 
insurgency strikes in Baghdad in February 2007. Campbell said 254 were 
slain in the city in December 2006.

Campbell said Iraqi and U.S. forces have been raiding insurgency 
strongholds and capturing weapons caches. He said that from Feb. 24 to 
March 2, the forces seized 74 weapon caches. This exceeded the previous 
week's total by 11.

Officials said the security operation in Baghdad has increased the 
coalition presence in insurgency-ridden neighborhoods. They said Shi'ite 
insurgents, particularly those from the Iranian-sponsored Mahdi Army, 
have gone underground, leaving the Iraqi-U.S. forces to battle Sunni 
fighters.

The statistics were released as Sunni insurgents escalated attacks on 
Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq. Nearly 200 people have been killed since March 
6 amid Sunni suicide strikes on Shi'ite processions through Sunni 
neighborhoods. Officials have attributed the bombings to Al Qaida.


"Car bombs have targeted hundreds of Iraqis," Petraeus told a news 
conference on Thursday.
Still, officials have maintained that Baghdad remained under coalition 
control. They said the coalition has sought to accelerate reconstruction 
projects for Baghdad neighborhoods.

"There are some very preliminary positive signs of things going on," 
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday. 
"No one wants to get too enthusiastic about it at this point. We're 
right at the very beginning. But I would say that based in terms of 
whether the Iraqis are meeting the commitments that they've made to us 
in the security arena, I think that our view would be so far, so good."

In all, the Baghdad operation was meant to include an extra 90,000 Iraqi 
and U.S. troops. On Wednesday, Gates said U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. 
David Petraeus has requested an additional 2,200 soldiers to help guard 
detainees from the Baghdad operation.

"Security in Baghdad is generally under control, despite the fact that 
some takfiris [Sunni extremists] are attacking women and children," 
Iraqi Brig. Gen. Qassim Mussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security 
plan, said. "We had prepared all roads, but there are loopholes through 
which terrorists infiltrate. As you know, those who wear explosive belts 
can die anywhere."


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