Meanwhile, the U.S. military has reported the killing of another
senior Al Qaida operative in Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported.
A U.S. military statement said a leading member of the Al Qaida network
in Iraq was killed. The operative was identified as Abu Abdul Rahman Al
Masri, an aide to Al Qaida network leader Abu Ayoub Al Masri.
On June 30, the military said Abu Abdul was killed in Faluja, west of
Baghdad. The statement said he fought the
U.S. military in Faluja in 2004.
"He responsible for participating in terrorist courts and issuing
fatwas," the statement said.
Officials said the coalition strategy began with disruption of Al Qaida
and other Sunni insurgency strongholds in Baghdad neighborhoods, or mahalas.
In the next stage, Iraqi and U.S. forces cleared, controlled and retained a
near-majority of the 474 neighborhoods.
In April, the counter-insurgency campaign in Baghdad disrupted
insurgency operations in 41 percent of Baghdad's neighborhoods. They said 35
percent of neighborhoods were being cleared of insurgents and another 19
percent of the districts were in the control phase.
Today, 195 Baghdad neighborhoods were under coalition control. Another
34 neighborhoods were in the retention phase.
"So control and retain together is about 48 and something percent," Fil
said in a briefing on June 29.
In mid-June, the U.S. military said only 30 percent of Baghdad
neighborhoods were under coalition control. Officials said the U.S. military
has intensified operations, particularly the use of AH-64 Apache attack
helicopters, to attack suspected Al Qaida strongholds.
The focus of the Iraqi-U.S. campaign was said to be southern and eastern
Baghdad. Officials cited neighborhoods as Adhamiya,
Amiriyah, Mansour and East Rashid.
"We are hitting them where it hurts, and we're taking away their ability
to control neighborhoods and brutalize the population," Fil said. "The
number of attacks, first of all, has come down. The effect of those attacks
has come down significantly. That's due to safe neighborhoods that have been
created, the safe markets that have been created."
David Kilcullen, senior counter-insurgency adviser to U.S. military
commander Gen. David Petraeus, agreed. Kilcullen said the
current operation has sought to target multiple Al Qaida targets and recruit
Sunnis against the insurgency movement.
"The intention behind the counter-operations that we're doing is to try
to knock over several insurgent safe havens simultaneously," Kilcullen said.
In a briefing on June 29, Kilcullen cited Operations Phantom Thunder and
Arrowhead Ripper, two counter-insurgency missions facilitated by the
deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops in 2007. He said the surge
has enabled simultaneous operations as well as the ability to hold areas and
block insurgents from regrouping.
In the latest strategy, Iraqi and U.S. forces operate out of joint
security stations rather than large military bases. Kilcullen said this
method of operation has
reduced insurgency improvised explosive device attacks.
"There's a long way to run, but I think it's a positive indicator at
this stage," Kilcullen said.
Abu Abdul was identified as an Egyptian national. The Al Qaida network
in Iraq was said to be led by Egyptians and other non-Iraqi nationals.
Officials said Abu Abdul, who fought in Afghanistan and returned to Iraq
in 2006, issued religious decrees. They said he also recruited and trained
foreign fighters for Al Qaida who arrived in Iraq from neighboring Jordan
and Syria.
Over the weekend, the Iraq Army detained nearly a dozen suspected Al
Qaida members in southern Baghdad. Officials said the operatives were
believed responsible for attacks on coalition forces, including sniper and
improvised explosive device strikes.