Help wanted: Al Qaida cells in Iraq struggling to replace fallen leaders
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said Al Qaida is
struggling to rebuild cells dismantled in coalition operations in Iraq.
U.S. commanders said Al Qaida was encountering difficulty in
regenerating cells destroyed in U.S.-led coalition operations in such
provinces as Anbar, Baghdad and Diyala. The commanders said the greatest
challenge was appointing replacements for captured or killed Al Qaida cell
leaders.
"In some cases we've stripped through the leaderships of that, whereas
before a cell would have a leader taken out and another person was ready to
step up and fill the gap," Brig. Gen. Robert Holmes, deputy director of
operations for U.S. Central Command, said. "What we see in some cases, I
think, is that it's becoming more difficult for certain cells to repair."
Also In This Edition
Holmes told a July 19 briefing that Al Qaida continued to recruit
operatives, Middle East Newsline reported. But the general said the Islamic insurgency network was
struggling to find cell commanders to maintain attacks against Iraqi and
U.S. forces.
On July 19, the U.S. military identified a senior Al Qaida operative
killed in June in western Iraq as a Turkish national. The military said
Khattab Al
Turki was a close associate of then-Al Qaida operations chief Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, planner of the Al Qaida suicide air strikes on New York and
Washington in September 2001.
Al Turki, killed along with two comrades in Hawija on June 23, was said
to have commanded Turkish nationals in Afghanistan in the war against the
United States. The military said the other two operatives performed key
communications and logistic tasks for Al Qaida in Iraq.
In his briefing, Holmes said Al Qaida in Anbar has come under pressure
from Sunni tribes. He said the tribes were recruiting fighters to track and
destroy Al Qaida cells in the largest province in Iraq.
"The tribal leaders are taking up arms, working with the coalition
forces, because they hate Al Qaida more than they hate the U.S. and the
coalition forces," Holmes said. "That may be, but you know what? If Iraqis
are fighting for Iraq, that's OK."