US general wants more troops for Diyala

Soldiers maneuver from home to home while searching for insurgents and weapons caches in the Diyala Province's small village of Hamoud

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. commander for northern Iraq has asked for more troops to clamp down on insurgent attacks and sectarian violence in the volatile province of Diyala, he said on Friday.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said he had moved additional forces from his own area into Diyala and requested extra troops from elsewhere in the country from Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq.

"Could I use more forces in Diyala? No question about it and I'm in discussions about it with Gen. Odierno as he attempts to balance the requirements in Baghdad," Mixon told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink from Iraq.

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