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January 10, 2008
9 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Sunni Strongholds
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and STEPHEN FARRELL
ARAB HAMADAH, Iraq - In one of the deadliest stretches for American troops
in months, militants killed nine soldiers in the volatile Sunni Arab
heartlands north of Baghdad on Tuesday and Wednesday as the military began
its third offensive in a year to dislodge Sunni guerrillas from sanctuaries
deep within the lush farmlands and palm groves of Diyala Province.
Six of the American soldiers were killed Wednesday at an unspecified
location in Diyala in part of the offensive when insurgents detonated a
large bomb hidden in a house. Four other soldiers were wounded, and an
interpreter of unknown nationality was killed.
A military spokesman later confirmed that the explosion had occurred while
the soldiers were clearing a building.
The military did not release further information, but in Diyala, northeast
of Baghdad, house bombs have long been a staple weapon for Sunni fighters
who try to lure soldiers inside booby-trapped buildings. Another house
rigged to explode was discovered in the Diyala village of Khan Bani Saad on
Sunday. Warplanes destroyed it with bombs.
Three American soldiers were killed Tuesday in neighboring Salahuddin
Province, where fighting has been fierce recently between Sunni extremists
and Sunni militiamen who have allied with American forces.
The attacks were another sign that insurgents remained very strong in the
Sunni-dominated cities and countryside north of Baghdad.
Sixteen Americans have died already this year, mostly north of Baghdad, and
Sunni militants have carried out devastating attacks in Diyala against Sunni
militiamen who recently joined forces with American troops.
Five severed heads were found on a road near the provincial capital, Baquba,
on Monday. The killers used blood to scrawl a gruesome warning in Arabic
across the foreheads: Join the American-backed militias "and you will end up
like this."
While the Diyala insurgents have been striking at American soldiers and
their Sunni militia allies, the commander of American ground troops in
northern Iraq acknowledged on Wednesday that many of the militants who were
the focus of the new offensive had fled in advance, possibly after being
tipped off.
"I'm sure there's active leaking of communication," said the northern
commander, Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling.
Encountering insurgent booby traps but few evident insurgents, troops in
armored Stryker units advanced through the Diyala River Valley on Wednesday
during the second day of the offensive. Soldiers passed through deserted
streets on patrols aimed at driving extremist Islamist factions from their
strongholds north of Baquba.
Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, General Hertling identified unsecured
Iraqi Army communications as a possible reason the insurgents targets had
managed to slip through the net, as may have happened before an offensive in
Baquba last June. He noted that the Iraqi forces relied on unsecured
cellphones and radios.
However, General Hertling said forces would continue to hunt Al Qaeda in
Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni insurgent group that the American military
says is led by foreigners.
He described the Diyala offensive as part of a wider operation to kill or
capture the group's fighters across the country. General Hertling said that
in his northern command, 24,000 American troops, 50,000 Iraq soldiers and
80,000 Iraqi police officers were now involved in the hunt. He said that in
Diyala Province, 20 to 30 of the group's fighters had been killed since the
start of the current operation.
Planners said before the operation that the Diyala Valley was a stronghold
for extremist groups, including Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Islamic State
of Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna.
But as soldiers of Company I, Third Squadron, Second Stryker Cavalry
Regiment moved in from the north on the second day of the offensive, they
found little sign of the 200 or so insurgents thought to be operating there.
In villages near the insurgents' supposed nerve center, residents confirmed
that carloads of armed and masked men operated freely until recently. Some
residents said the gunmen left after being alerted to the operation by
increased helicopter traffic.
The American troops say they believe that some insurgents remained, in part
because residents reported that one car bomb was planted on the morning the
offensive began. They say they also suspect that some residents know more
than they disclose but are too intimidated to speak, at least until American
and Iraqi forces show they are going to remain in the area.
Near the village of Arab Hamadah, the Stryker unit discovered an Islamist
leaflet bearing a photograph of an attack on an Iraqi government checkpoint
and threatening to "kill anyone working with the Iraqi Army, the police and
the American forces."
It also warned residents not to become part of the Awakening, the Sunni
tribal movement that has turned against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and begun
cooperating with the Americans, providing neighborhood watch patrols that
are increasingly the targets of insurgents.
As the Americans moved through vineyards and canals, First Lt. David Moore
said the dense vegetation posed the greatest threat.
"None of us is afraid of the firefights, the guns and all that," he said.
"It is the deep-buried stuff that you can't see.
"I don't think we have lost anybody from our company in a firefight; we have
only lost people from explosions."
But even before news emerged of Wednesday's deadly attack, officers voiced
fears that as they penetrated deeper into insurgent strongholds, the threat
of house bombs would increase.
9 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Sunni Strongholds
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and STEPHEN FARRELL
ARAB HAMADAH, Iraq - In one of the deadliest stretches for American troops
in months, militants killed nine soldiers in the volatile Sunni Arab
heartlands north of Baghdad on Tuesday and Wednesday as the military began
its third offensive in a year to dislodge Sunni guerrillas from sanctuaries
deep within the lush farmlands and palm groves of Diyala Province.
Six of the American soldiers were killed Wednesday at an unspecified
location in Diyala in part of the offensive when insurgents detonated a
large bomb hidden in a house. Four other soldiers were wounded, and an
interpreter of unknown nationality was killed.
A military spokesman later confirmed that the explosion had occurred while
the soldiers were clearing a building.
The military did not release further information, but in Diyala, northeast
of Baghdad, house bombs have long been a staple weapon for Sunni fighters
who try to lure soldiers inside booby-trapped buildings. Another house
rigged to explode was discovered in the Diyala village of Khan Bani Saad on
Sunday. Warplanes destroyed it with bombs.
Three American soldiers were killed Tuesday in neighboring Salahuddin
Province, where fighting has been fierce recently between Sunni extremists
and Sunni militiamen who have allied with American forces.
The attacks were another sign that insurgents remained very strong in the
Sunni-dominated cities and countryside north of Baghdad.
Sixteen Americans have died already this year, mostly north of Baghdad, and
Sunni militants have carried out devastating attacks in Diyala against Sunni
militiamen who recently joined forces with American troops.
Five severed heads were found on a road near the provincial capital, Baquba,
on Monday. The killers used blood to scrawl a gruesome warning in Arabic
across the foreheads: Join the American-backed militias "and you will end up
like this."
While the Diyala insurgents have been striking at American soldiers and
their Sunni militia allies, the commander of American ground troops in
northern Iraq acknowledged on Wednesday that many of the militants who were
the focus of the new offensive had fled in advance, possibly after being
tipped off.
"I'm sure there's active leaking of communication," said the northern
commander, Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling.
Encountering insurgent booby traps but few evident insurgents, troops in
armored Stryker units advanced through the Diyala River Valley on Wednesday
during the second day of the offensive. Soldiers passed through deserted
streets on patrols aimed at driving extremist Islamist factions from their
strongholds north of Baquba.
Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, General Hertling identified unsecured
Iraqi Army communications as a possible reason the insurgents targets had
managed to slip through the net, as may have happened before an offensive in
Baquba last June. He noted that the Iraqi forces relied on unsecured
cellphones and radios.
However, General Hertling said forces would continue to hunt Al Qaeda in
Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni insurgent group that the American military
says is led by foreigners.
He described the Diyala offensive as part of a wider operation to kill or
capture the group's fighters across the country. General Hertling said that
in his northern command, 24,000 American troops, 50,000 Iraq soldiers and
80,000 Iraqi police officers were now involved in the hunt. He said that in
Diyala Province, 20 to 30 of the group's fighters had been killed since the
start of the current operation.
Planners said before the operation that the Diyala Valley was a stronghold
for extremist groups, including Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Islamic State
of Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna.
But as soldiers of Company I, Third Squadron, Second Stryker Cavalry
Regiment moved in from the north on the second day of the offensive, they
found little sign of the 200 or so insurgents thought to be operating there.
In villages near the insurgents' supposed nerve center, residents confirmed
that carloads of armed and masked men operated freely until recently. Some
residents said the gunmen left after being alerted to the operation by
increased helicopter traffic.
The American troops say they believe that some insurgents remained, in part
because residents reported that one car bomb was planted on the morning the
offensive began. They say they also suspect that some residents know more
than they disclose but are too intimidated to speak, at least until American
and Iraqi forces show they are going to remain in the area.
Near the village of Arab Hamadah, the Stryker unit discovered an Islamist
leaflet bearing a photograph of an attack on an Iraqi government checkpoint
and threatening to "kill anyone working with the Iraqi Army, the police and
the American forces."
It also warned residents not to become part of the Awakening, the Sunni
tribal movement that has turned against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and begun
cooperating with the Americans, providing neighborhood watch patrols that
are increasingly the targets of insurgents.
As the Americans moved through vineyards and canals, First Lt. David Moore
said the dense vegetation posed the greatest threat.
"None of us is afraid of the firefights, the guns and all that," he said.
"It is the deep-buried stuff that you can't see.
"I don't think we have lost anybody from our company in a firefight; we have
only lost people from explosions."
But even before news emerged of Wednesday's deadly attack, officers voiced
fears that as they penetrated deeper into insurgent strongholds, the threat
of house bombs would increase.
