Daily Iraq Report for March 13, 2007 ~ Weekly Standard ~ Bill Roggio

The Weekly Standard ^ | Tuesday, March 13, 2007 | Bill Roggio

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Baghdad Security Plan continues to show some encouraging signs of progress in reducing the levels of violence in the capital and in the provinces. The sectarian attacks have been reduced significantly. There have been no major suicide or carbomb attacks in Baghdad or the provinces over the past 48 hours. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been able to pull off five mass casualty attacks over the past nine days. Two were directed at security checkpoints inside Baghdad, two at pilgrims traveling to Karbala, and the last a bombing in a cafe in Balad Ruiz.

During a nine day operation inside Baghdad, Iraqi and U.S. forces targeted IED networks inside the city. The operation, dubbed Arrowhead Strike 8, ended on Sunday and resulted in “24 terrorists... killed; four wounded and 90 suspected terrorists... detained. Several of those detained were members of Al Qaeda.” Several large weapons caches were also uncovered.

As we've noted in the past, the province of Diyala is becoming a major focus of operations. In an interview with ABC News, General David Petraeus noted that, “There are worrying trends in the Diyala province that will force US forces to pay closer attention to that area,” as paraphrased by as IraqSlogger. Multinational Forces Iraq has just deployed an additional battalion of 700 U.S. Army troops from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division to the city of Baquba, the provincial capital of Diyala.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Wanted to make a special not of this:

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Last weekend, the Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda's political front, torched the homes of Sunni and Shia tribesmen in Muqdadiya who oppose al Qaeda. Tribal leaders in Diyala are beginning to organize along the lines of the Anbar Salvation Council in Anbar province, and will increasingly become the target of an intimidation and terror campaign by al Qaeda.

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And refer back to a thread that got a lot interest yesterday:

Jihadist Meltdown (A Must Read Article)

[jveritas]

Excellent news.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The New York Times article posted on FreeRepublic:

NY Times: In New Tactic, Militants Burn Houses in Iraq ~ (Al Queda getting desperate?)

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Hat tip to Bill Roggio .sss link at post #2.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks E.

[REDWOOD99]

Yes, but is it carbon-neutral?