Iraqi forces launch crackdown in volatile Diyala province

A car bomb in Diyala province killed 5 soldiers in 2005

BAQUBA, Iraq, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The Iraqi army launched a large operation against insurgents on Friday in Diyala province, a volatile, ethnically-mixed area northeast of the capital that has seen some of the worst violence over recent months.

Iraqi soldiers sealed off streets and were searching houses in al-Gatoon, a restive neighbourhood in the western part of the provincial capital Baquba, said military spokesman Brigadier Qasim al-Moussawi.

He said 60 suspects had been arrested in the sweeps, including one he named as Atta Hadi al-Sadoun, accused of driving Shi'ite families out of a nearby town. So far the operation had been peaceful, with no reported casualties.

U.S. commanders describe Diyala as "the perfect storm" -- an area where Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites all are competing for control of towns and villages. Like the ethnically and religiously mixed capital to the south, it has seen a surge of violence since an attack on a Shi'ite shrine in February.

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