U.S. trumpets improved security in Diyala even as Mayor kidnapped, office blown up, police vehicles stolen

Iraqi security forces raid a home with suspected militants in Baqouba, capital of Diayla province, on Wednesday, January 17

BAGHDAD, Jan. 22 -- U.S. Army officers described Monday how they disbanded what they called a terrorist network whose members killed tribesmen and otherwise sowed fear across large pockets of Diyala province north of Baghdad.

"There are shopkeepers who had closed their doors out of fear, that are now beginning to open their doors," said Maj. Brett G. Sylvia, speaking from Diyala through a satellite video link to reporters in Baghdad. "Families are starting to move back into the area. A sense of normalcy is attempting to be reestablished in this area."

Minutes before the news conference began, armed men kidnapped the mayor of the provincial capital, Baqubah, blew up his office and stole six government cars, including three new Chevrolet police pickup trucks, officials in the province said.

The near-simultaneous scenarios played out like a tale of two Iraqs, one inching toward stability, the other engulfed in chaos.

After seizing Mayor Khalid al-Sanjari, one of the armed men grabbed a loudspeaker from a police car and taunted the chief of police, the officials said.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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