Odierno: 80% of al-Qaeda 'upper level leaders fled' before Diyala offensive

Above: Stryker soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division move into a street in Baqubah as part of operation 'Arrowhead Ripper' on Tuesday.

More than three-quarters of the senior al-Qaida leaders holed up in Baqouba escaped as American soldiers launched an offensive earlier this week, the U.S. ground forces commander said on Thursday.

During a one day trip to the battlefield where about 10,000 U.S. troops are fighting to oust suspected al-Qaida militants, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said: "We believe 80 percent of the upper level (al-Qaida) leaders fled, but we'll find them."

Baqouba, the capital of volatile and extremely dangerous Diyala province, sits less than a hour's drive northeast of Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi forces are fighting to take back the province — part of a quartet of offensives targeting militants in districts flanking the capital.

"Eighty percent of the lower level leaders are still here," said Odierno in a conversation with two reporters. He had been in the battle zone to meet battalion commanders in a bombed-out hospital in downtown Baqouba.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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