700+ more U.S. soldiers arrive in troubled Diyala province

Above: Soldiers of the Army's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, rest as they have arrive to a US military Base Warhorse in Baqouba. Left: Baqouba is the capital city of Diyala.

BAQOUBA, Iraq (AP) — More than 700 additional U.S. troops arrived in Iraq's increasingly volatile Diyala province on Tuesday to try to quell burgeoning violence northeast of Baghdad during a security crackdown in the capital.

The Army's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division moved from northern Baghdad into Baqouba early Tuesday to supplement about 3,500 American soldiers already stationed there.

The move comes at a time when more than 20,000 new American troops are pouring into Baghdad as part of a U.S.-Iraqi push to pacify the capital...

While sectarian killings in Baghdad have fallen since the crackdown began last month, violence has skyrocketed to the northeast in Diyala, where direct attacks on U.S. forces have risen 70% since last summer, according to U.S. military figures.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the Army's 25th Infantry Division and the top U.S. official in northern Iraq, said late Monday that the decision was not a last-minute reaction to an uptick in violence there.

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