"This will be an operation meant to decimate the Al Qaida leadership in
Diyala," an official said. "If successful, this will have a devastating
effect on the Al Qaida presence throughout the country."
Officials said the U.S. and Iraqi militaries have determined that the Al
Qaida leadership, including network commander Aby Ayoub Al Jayousi, was
based in Diyala. They said Al Jayousi and his leading aides have been
tracked to an unidentified village in the province.
On July 13, Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim
Khalaf announced preparations for the operation against Al Qaida. At the
time, Khalaf did not say when the assault would begin.
Officials said Diyala became the most dangerous province in Iraq in
2008. They said much of the Al Qaida leadership relocated from Anbar, where
Sunni tribes joined the U.S.-led coalition.
In July, three leading Al Qaida-aligned operatives surrendered to Iraqi
and U.S. forces, including one linked to a Syrian financier. The Al Qaida
commander in Rutbah, near the Jordanian border, was also reported to have
surrendered.
"The [Rutbah] suspect is known to facilitate foreign fighters, weapons
and narcotics," the U.S. military said. "He is said to be well-connected to
AQI [Al Qaida in Iraq]networks in various regions and finances criminal
groups coming into Iraq. He is also associated with another AQI emir in the
area reportedly responsible for executing members of the Iraqi government
and Iraqi security forces, smuggling, hijacking and carjacking."
Al Qaida was said to have been receiving aid and safe haven from
neighboring Iran and Syria. Officials said the flow of Al Qaida volunteers
from Syria
has been reduced from 100 to 20 per month.
Iraq and the U.S. military has been operating against Al Qaida north of
Baghdad. The U.S.-led coalition has captured two fugitives and detained two
additional suspects in raids that targeted Al Qaida's financial
infrastructure around Baghdad.
In operations on July 22 and 23, coalition troops detained an alleged Al
Qaida financier near Samarra, 110 kilometers north of Baghdad. Another
detainee, arrested in Baghdad, was linked to the Al Qaida leadership in Iraq
and other countries.
"By targeting these networks, Iraqi and Coalition forces are continuing
to chip away at AQI's ability to conduct acts of
indiscriminate violence or to impose an extremist ideology upon the people
of Iraq," Cmdr. Scott Rye, a
spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq, said.
