Diyala offensive nearly over; 'Former' insurgents act as scouts; Most fled before offensive; Generals doubt Iraqis can hold gains

Above: Soldiers with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team scan the area in Baqubah this week during 'Operation Arrowhead Ripper'.

Sunni ex-insurgents scouting info for U.S.

Hundreds of fighters from the 1920s Revolution Brigades, a Sunni insurgent group, work as scouts and gather intelligence for the 10,000-strong American force in the fifth day of its mission to remove al Qaeda gunmen and bomb makers from the Diyala provincial capital...

Each U.S. Army company in Baqouba, an hour's drive northeast of Baghdad, has a scout from the Brigades; others have become a ragtag intelligence network and still others fight, said Capt. Ricardo Ortega, a 34-year-old member of the 2nd Infantry Division and a Puerto Rico native...

Most of the Brigades members, whom U.S. officials call "concerned local nationals," hail from eastern Baqouba, while the bulk of the fighting has so far raged in western Baqouba.

Read the rest at the Star Telegram

U.S. troops battle 'minefield' of bombs in Iraq's Baquba

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops hoping to directly confront al Qaeda militants in a major offensive in the Iraqi city of Baquba instead found themselves "swimming through a minefield", a senior officer said on Sunday...

But others believe many al Qaeda fighters left Baquba after getting clear signals from U.S. commanders who have said for some time that the city was high on their list of priorities.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

US campaign in Iraq's Baquba almost over

US forces believe the initial combat phase of a major offensive to clear al-Qaeda from the Iraqi city of Baquba is nearly complete and any militants left could be confronted in the next 24 hours.

The operation in and around Baquba, capital of volatile Diyala province, is a major part of one of the biggest combined offensives by US and Iraqi forces against the Sunni Islamist group in Iraq since the invasion of the country in 2003.

"We will either make enemy contact quickly, or we won't," Colonel Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, told reporters.

"My company commanders' gut feel is that there won't be a big fight here," he said after a briefing late with combat captains in the bombed-out remains of a building, once used by al-Qaeda as a clinic, on Baquba's outskirts.

Townsend said latest intelligence indicated some fighters were still inside an American cordon, which has been steadily tightened since the operation was launched on Tuesday, cutting off options for the militants to escape.

"They don't have any choice but to fight ... or put down their weapons and melt into the population," Townsend said.

Read the rest at the Sydney Morning Herald

U.S. generals doubt Iraqi force strength

BAQOUBA, Iraq — The U.S. commander of a new offensive north of Baghdad, reclaiming insurgent territory day by day, said Sunday his Iraqi partners may be too weak to hold onto the gains.

The Iraqi military does not even have enough ammunition, said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek: "They're not quite up to the job yet."

His counterpart south of Baghdad seemed to agree, saying U.S. troops are too few to garrison the districts newly rid of insurgents. "It can't be coalition (U.S.) forces. We have what we have. There's got to be more Iraqi security forces," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch...

Bednarek predicted it would be weeks before Iraqi police and soldiers could keep al-Qaeda out of western Baqouba, and months before they were able to do the same on the city's east side and outlying villages.

Read the rest at the Houston Chronicle

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