US launches major Iraq offensive

BAGHDAD – The US military deployed 10 000 soldiers, attack helicopters and armoured fighting vehicles in an offensive against al Qaeda yesterday in one of the biggest operations since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The military said 22 militants were killed in the early hours of the offensive around the city of Baquba in Diyala province, an al Qaeda stronghold north of Baghdad. “The end state is to destroy the al Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people,” Brigadier-General Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general, operations, 25th Infantry Division, said in a statement.”That is the number one, bottom-line, up-front, in-your-face, task and purpose.”US military commanders said they were taking advantage of the completion of a build-up of American forces in Iraq under a crackdown in Baghdad that began four months ago.The crackdown has forced many militants to move to areas around the capital.The statement said about 10 000 soldiers, backed by attack helicopters, close air support and armoured fighting vehicles were taking part in Operation Arrowhead Ripper.It did not say how long the offensive would last.But it coincides with smaller operations launched in recent days against al Qaeda in Iraq targets around Baghdad.”It’s certainly one of the largest since the end of ground operations in 2003,” US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver told Reuters when asked to describe the significance of the operation.Residents in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, said heavy and continual explosions had been echoing around the city since before dawn.Baquba was under total curfew, they added.The US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and President George W.Bush have both called Sunni Islamist al Qaeda “public enemy number one” in Iraq.US officials say the group is trying to tip Iraq into full-scale sectarian civil war with a wave of car bomb attacks and other acts of violence.Garver said even if al Qaeda militants refused to fight and escaped to another part of Iraq, seizing explosives and disrupting their network was worthwhile.”Every time they up and move they are weaker because they are moving into an area where people don’t know them …so driving them out gives us an advantage,” he said.Nampa-Reuters”The end state is to destroy the al Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people,” Brigadier-General Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general, operations, 25th Infantry Division, said in a statement.”That is the number one, bottom-line, up-front, in-your-face, task and purpose.”US military commanders said they were taking advantage of the completion of a build-up of American forces in Iraq under a crackdown in Baghdad that began four months ago.The crackdown has forced many militants to move to areas around the capital.The statement said about 10 000 soldiers, backed by attack helicopters, close air support and armoured fighting vehicles were taking part in Operation Arrowhead Ripper.It did not say how long the offensive would last.But it coincides with smaller operations launched in recent days against al Qaeda in Iraq targets around Baghdad.”It’s certainly one of the largest since the end of ground operations in 2003,” US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver told Reuters when asked to describe the significance of the operation.Residents in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, said heavy and continual explosions had been echoing around the city since before dawn.Baquba was under total curfew, they added.The US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and President George W.Bush have both called Sunni Islamist al Qaeda “public enemy number one” in Iraq.US officials say the group is trying to tip Iraq into full-scale sectarian civil war with a wave of car bomb attacks and other acts of violence.Garver said even if al Qaeda militants refused to fight and escaped to another part of Iraq, seizing explosives and disrupting their network was worthwhile.”Every time they up and move they are weaker because they are moving into an area where people don’t know them …so driving them out gives us an advantage,” he said.Nampa-Reuters