5,000 troops launch offensive south of Baghdad
First raids in 'triangle of death' net 32 suspected insurgents
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 10:44 a.m. ET Nov. 23, 2004
BAGHDAD - Some 5,000 U.S. Marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched a new offensive Tuesday aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The joint operation kicked off with early morning raids in the town of Jabella in Babil province, netting 32 suspected insurgents, "including a number of high-interest individuals," the U.S. military said in a statement. Jabella is 50 miles south of Baghdad.
Insurgent violence has spiked in the areas south of the capital in the wake of the U.S-led assault on the militant stronghold of Fallujah in "an apparent attempt to divert attention" away from Fallujah, the military said.
The cluster of dusty, small towns located south of the capital, has been a major area for insurgent activity. U.S. and Iraqi forces have come under repeated attacks by car bombs, rockets, and small arms fire in the area.
The region has become known as a ?triangle of death? for the numerous attacks by Sunni Muslim insurgents and criminal gangs on Shiites, Westerners and members of the Iraqi security services.
In the past three weeks, Iraqi troops and Marines have detained nearly 250 insurgents in the area, the statement said.
They have been aided by British forces from the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch Regiment, who were brought into the area from southern Basra to aid American forces in closing off militant escape routes between Baghdad, Babil province to the south and Anbar province to the west.
It would be the third major military offensive against insurgents since the massive Fallujah operation, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 U.S. soldiers and injured more than 400.
Earlier this month, the northern city of Mosul witnessed a mass insurgent uprising in apparent support of Fallujah?s guerrillas. Some 2,400 U.S. troops were sent in to retake control over western parts of the city.
In a separate statement, the U.S. military said other troops overnight detained 38 individuals in a raid near Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. They are suspected of plotting attacks on coalition troops, the military said.
Bomb found on plane
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. embassy reported that a bomb had been found on a commercial flight in Iraq.
The improvised device was discovered Monday, according to a spokeswoman. She declined to give further details but said security arrangements were tightened at Baghdad International Airport.
It was not clear whether the bomb targeted a passenger or cargo flight, but the embassy renewed a warning to U.S. citizens to reconsider plans to travel by commercial airline to Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, masked gunmen assassinated a Sunni cleric north of Baghdad, police said ? the second such killing in as many days.
Sheik Ghalib Ali al-Zuhairi was a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group that has spoken out against nationwide elections to be held Jan. 30.
Al-Zuhairi was shot as he was leaving Thiyaba Mosque in the town of Muqdadiyah after dawn prayers, said Col. Raisan Hussein. He was taken to Muqdadiya Hospital where he later died, Hussein said. Muqdadiyah is about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
A day earlier, unknown gunmen assassinated another prominent Sunni cleric in the northern city of Mosul ? Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, who was the brother of the group?s spokesman.
It was unclear whether there was any connection between the two murders.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, considered one of the most influential Sunni groups in Iraq, has loudly opposed the U.S. assault against the rebel stronghold of Fallujah and promised to boycott national elections.
As the election approaches, U.S. commanders in Iraq probably will expand their troops by several thousand. Army units slated to depart are also being held back until after the election. There are now about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Other developments
In Samara, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb and mortar rounds landed near a U.S. military outpost in violence that killed one and injured three others, including two children, police said Tuesday.
The Defense Department said Monday that three Marines wounded during the Fallujah offensive died at U.S. hospitals in Germany and the United States, raising the U.S. military death toll in Iraq for November to at least 101. The only other month in which U.S. deaths exceeded 100 was April, when insurgent violence flared.
Officials announced that Brig. Gen. Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi, the former police chief of Mosul, was arrested amid allegations that his force allowed insurgents to take over police stations during this month?s uprising.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6403689/
Atleast we are on the right step those which were flushed out of Fallujah will be hunted down.
First raids in 'triangle of death' net 32 suspected insurgents
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 10:44 a.m. ET Nov. 23, 2004
BAGHDAD - Some 5,000 U.S. Marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched a new offensive Tuesday aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The joint operation kicked off with early morning raids in the town of Jabella in Babil province, netting 32 suspected insurgents, "including a number of high-interest individuals," the U.S. military said in a statement. Jabella is 50 miles south of Baghdad.
Insurgent violence has spiked in the areas south of the capital in the wake of the U.S-led assault on the militant stronghold of Fallujah in "an apparent attempt to divert attention" away from Fallujah, the military said.
The cluster of dusty, small towns located south of the capital, has been a major area for insurgent activity. U.S. and Iraqi forces have come under repeated attacks by car bombs, rockets, and small arms fire in the area.
The region has become known as a ?triangle of death? for the numerous attacks by Sunni Muslim insurgents and criminal gangs on Shiites, Westerners and members of the Iraqi security services.
In the past three weeks, Iraqi troops and Marines have detained nearly 250 insurgents in the area, the statement said.
They have been aided by British forces from the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch Regiment, who were brought into the area from southern Basra to aid American forces in closing off militant escape routes between Baghdad, Babil province to the south and Anbar province to the west.
It would be the third major military offensive against insurgents since the massive Fallujah operation, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 U.S. soldiers and injured more than 400.
Earlier this month, the northern city of Mosul witnessed a mass insurgent uprising in apparent support of Fallujah?s guerrillas. Some 2,400 U.S. troops were sent in to retake control over western parts of the city.
In a separate statement, the U.S. military said other troops overnight detained 38 individuals in a raid near Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. They are suspected of plotting attacks on coalition troops, the military said.
Bomb found on plane
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. embassy reported that a bomb had been found on a commercial flight in Iraq.
The improvised device was discovered Monday, according to a spokeswoman. She declined to give further details but said security arrangements were tightened at Baghdad International Airport.
It was not clear whether the bomb targeted a passenger or cargo flight, but the embassy renewed a warning to U.S. citizens to reconsider plans to travel by commercial airline to Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, masked gunmen assassinated a Sunni cleric north of Baghdad, police said ? the second such killing in as many days.
Sheik Ghalib Ali al-Zuhairi was a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group that has spoken out against nationwide elections to be held Jan. 30.
Al-Zuhairi was shot as he was leaving Thiyaba Mosque in the town of Muqdadiyah after dawn prayers, said Col. Raisan Hussein. He was taken to Muqdadiya Hospital where he later died, Hussein said. Muqdadiyah is about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
A day earlier, unknown gunmen assassinated another prominent Sunni cleric in the northern city of Mosul ? Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, who was the brother of the group?s spokesman.
It was unclear whether there was any connection between the two murders.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, considered one of the most influential Sunni groups in Iraq, has loudly opposed the U.S. assault against the rebel stronghold of Fallujah and promised to boycott national elections.
As the election approaches, U.S. commanders in Iraq probably will expand their troops by several thousand. Army units slated to depart are also being held back until after the election. There are now about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Other developments
In Samara, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb and mortar rounds landed near a U.S. military outpost in violence that killed one and injured three others, including two children, police said Tuesday.
The Defense Department said Monday that three Marines wounded during the Fallujah offensive died at U.S. hospitals in Germany and the United States, raising the U.S. military death toll in Iraq for November to at least 101. The only other month in which U.S. deaths exceeded 100 was April, when insurgent violence flared.
Officials announced that Brig. Gen. Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi, the former police chief of Mosul, was arrested amid allegations that his force allowed insurgents to take over police stations during this month?s uprising.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6403689/
Atleast we are on the right step those which were flushed out of Fallujah will be hunted down.
