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Monday, July 2, 2007

U.S. reports securing 48 percent of Baghdad neighboroods

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has gained control over nearly half of Baghdad.

Officials said the joint Iraqi-U.S. counter-insurgency operation has resulted in control over numerous neighborhoods in Baghdad. They said Iraqi and U.S. forces were being aided by an increasing flow of intelligence on Al Qaida strongholds.

"We are hitting them where it hurts, and we're taking away their ability to control neighborhoods and brutalize the population," Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, the U.S. commander of Multinational Division Baghdad, said.

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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.

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