Word: baghdad
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...BAGHDAD Truck bomb destroys Shi'ite mosque; kills over...
...thunderous start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala province inaugurates the second phase of Gen. David Petraeus's "surge" strategy. If the first, a massive security crackdown in and around Baghdad, was designed to smoke al-Qaeda and other militant groups out of their foxholes, the new assault is meant to pick them off in open battle. The assault began in and around Baquba, the volatile provincial capital about 31 miles northeast of Baghdad, and involves over 10,000 American soldiers and heavy air cover...
...Operation Arrowhead Ripper has been much quicker off the mark - although any offensive that requires the buildup of 10,000 soldiers can hardly be lightning-fast. But more important, it is accompanied by a second, flanking operation south of Baghdad. Over the weekend, elements of the 3rd Infanty Division began sweeping through militant-infested areas like Salman Pak and Arab Jabour. This means the militants facing the American forces in Diyala can't run south for cover. (Even farther south, British and Iraqi security forces have been conducting raids against Shi'ite militias, especially the Mahdi Army, in around...
...Will Petraeus' plan work? The ferocity of his fighting force - and of his own resolve - is not in doubt. Nor is there any question that al-Qaeda is at large in Diyala. The province, northeast of Baghdad, has become the main hideout of jihadi fighters driven out from the Iraqi capital and from Anbar province. U.S. forces there have had almost daily encounters with al-Qaeda amid the orange groves that line the Euphrates valley south of Baqouba...
...Arrowhead Ripper has got off to a more positive start. In early fighting, the U.S. forces reported they had killed at least 22 insurgents. And the flanking operation south of Baghdad is already in full swing. The big test ahead is whether Petraeus has plugged all the possible holes to prevent al-Qaeda fighters from slipping away again...