Diyala becomes "unpacified"

For about six months now, we've heard so much "good news" about Diyala. According to the U.S. military, it's "pacified".
It seems that it's not pacified.

So now that we've created a parallel army in Iraq that isn't answerable to the Iraqi government, will anyone start to ask how this helps the Iraqi Government control their own country? No, because it's all about Al-Qaeda, apparently. We are only making the inevitable Iraqi war between Shia and Sunni worse.

16 killed in suicide blast in Iraq
Ali al-Tuwajri
Fri, 07 Dec 2007

A woman suicide bomber killed 16 people on Friday when she blew herself up in the office of a group fighting al-Qaeda in central Iraq, days after the jihadi group warned of a new bombing campaign.

The attack was the second by a female suicide bomber in less than two weeks after a similar assault on 27 November targeting a US foot patrol in the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba killed one Iraqi and wounded seven US soldiers.

It came just hours after a leader of another anti-Qaeda front and five of his bodyguards were killed in a gun attack near the northern city of Mosul on Thursday night.

Friday's blast, which shook the town of Muqdadiyah, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad, near Baquba, killed at least 16 people and wounded 27, police and medical officials said.

"The explosion was caused when a female suicide bomber detonated her vest in the office of the local Awakening group," said Baquba police officer Lieutenant Colonel Najim al-Soumaidaie, referring to a group of local Sunni Arabs who have taken up arms against al-Qaeda in Diyala.

Of those killed, 10 were from the Awakening group while 15 members of the group were among the wounded, a security official said.

Thursday night's attack targeted a prominent tribal leader who headed an Awakening group near Mosul, police said.

"Unidentified gunmen attacked sheikh Jabbar al-Jarba's convoy, killing him and five of his guards," said Brigadier General Mohammed al-Waggaa, a police officer in Mosul, 370 kilometres north of Baghdad.

The attack occurred between Mosul and the town of Rabia, about 120 kilometres west of Mosul, he said.

Al-Sahwa or Awakening groups have sprung up across Iraq, comprising mainly Sunni tribal leaders who have accepted money from the US military - on average about 300 dollars a month - in return for confronting al-Qaeda militants who attack civilians.

On Tuesday, the leader of an al-Qaeda-linked group warned in an Internet audio message of renewed attacks in Iraq and announced the formation of a new brigade.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq, said a new brigade called Al-Siddiq Brigades had been formed to fight every "apostate and traitor".

Baghdadi warned of a bombing campaign that will continue until 29 January 2008.

"This attack involves bombings aimed at the 'apostates' and members of the Awakening Councils," he said. The term apostates is usually used to refer to Iraqi security forces.

The US military dismisses Baghdadi as a "fictional character."

"The whole notion behind this character is to try to put an Iraqi face to an Al-Qaeda organisation. It is essentially a virtual organisation," Major General Kevin Bergner told a news conference this week.

US military officials claim that al-Qaeda fighters have been migrating to northern areas of Iraq after being chased out of safe havens in Baghdad and other volatile regions.

The militant group has, however, managed to maintain its threat in Diyala province where - despite military assaults - suicide attacks are still a regular occurrence.

Diyala has been a stronghold of al-Qaeda for years. The former head of the group, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US air strike in the province last year.

In another incident on Friday, a crude pipeline in oil-rich northern Iraq was set ablaze after being bombed by militants, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Repairs at the site near Al-Fatah, 120 kilometres west of Kirkuk, were expected to be completed within a day and crude exports would not be affected, he said.

Car bomb kills 10 in central Iraq
A car bomb killed 10 people on Friday in a town north of Baquba in Iraq's restive Diyala province, police official Major Ibrahim Hassan said. The attack came hours after a woman suicide bomber killed 16 people and wounded 27 in the town of Muqdadiyah near Baquba, and follows a warning by al-Qaeda that it has unleashed a new bombing campaign across the country.

AFP