U.S. finishing al Qaeda sweep in Diyala

FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, Iraq — U.S. military forces say they have largely completed combat operations and are working to consolidate their gains after a six-day push into the so-called “Bread Basket” area of Diyala province.

Clearing operations still are under way in the area, military authorities said, but day-to-day security will be handed over increasingly to Iraqi army and police units. A network of Concerned Local Citizens groups — an armed neighborhood-watch organization — also will be buttressed and expanded.

“Although decisive, the combat operations will likely not have as great of an effect as the next phases,” said Lt. Col. James Brown, executive officer of 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division.

He said efforts would focus on establishing stronger connections between villages surrounding the city of Muqdadiyah and Iraq’s central government.

The Bread Basket, an area of about 110 square miles in the northern Diyala River Valley, had long been an al Qaeda stronghold and was dubbed the Islamic Republic of Iraq by the militants. Militants had been centered in Baqouba, the provincial capital about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

When the surge of U.S. forces pushed al Qaeda out of Baghdad last year, the organization retreated to Baqouba; when pushed out of Baqouba, it retreated to the Bread Basket, where villagers now describe having gone through a reign of terror.

“As we transition into the next phase, you will essentially see a planting of the Iraqi flag in the northern [Diyala River Valley],” Col. Brown said.

“You will start to see Iraqi army and Iraqi police, which up until this point had not patrolled in this area, and here shortly, you will see the linkage between the provincial leaders and the local leaders.”

The push by at least seven battalions of U.S. soldiers, reinforced by three 5th Iraqi army divisions, began Tuesday under the name Operation Raider Harvest, which was part of a larger operation called Phantom Phoenix.

Leading the effort were the combat engineers of the 38th Engineer Battalion from Fort Lewis, Wash., who cleared the roads of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) so vehicle-borne infantry could push forward.

The lead vehicle in the convoy led by the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Platoon, of the 38th, was put out of action within five minutes of entering the first village. A 50- to 60-pound IED hidden under the road surface at a T-junction in Sinsil exploded when the heavily armored Buffalo rolled over a concealed crush-wire detonator. The four soldiers and one American reporter in the 40-ton vehicle escaped with concussive injuries.

Expected heavy fighting with al Qaeda militants in the Diyala River Valley, however, did not occur. Intelligence reports later indicated that many had fled farther north in advance of the operation.

It is thought that the insurgents were tipped off to impending action by the increase in helicopter and vehicle traffic to the largest U.S. base in the area, Forward Operating Base Normandy. There might also have been a leak from the Iraqi security forces.

By yesterday, the U.S. military said, four enemy fighters had been killed, four wounded and 24 terror suspects detained in the Bread Basket area. Thirteen explosive devices had been found and destroyed, as well as 10 vehicle-born bombs and four IEDs planted in houses.

Six U.S. soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed on Wednesday when a bomb in a booby-trapped house exploded shortly after they entered it. Four U.S. soldiers standing on the flat roof of the house were injured when it collapsed from the explosion.

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