2 al Qaeda leaders captured in Iraq

AP/NY Times:

U.S. and Iraqi troops captured two senior al-Qaida militants and seven other operatives Saturday in Diyala province, an Iraqi commander said, as an offensive to clear the volatile area of insurgents entered its fifth day.

The U.S. military also cracked down elsewhere in Iraq, saying in a statement that seven other al-Qaida fighters were killed and 10 suspects detained in raids in Tikrit, east of Fallujah, south of Baghdad and in Mosul.

Three other militants suspected of having ties to Iran were detained in a predawn operation by U.S. forces working with Iraqi informants in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City, the military said separately.

The Americans have accused Tehran of providing mainly Shiite militias with training and powerful roadside bombs known as explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, that have killed hundreds of U.S. troops in recent months.

''Coalition forces are determined to counter Iranian influence in Iraq, pursuing those suspected of smuggling arms and other forms of lethal aid into Iraq,'' military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said in a statement. ''Disrupting the bombing network in Baghdad remains a high priority for us, and we will continue to target the cells' leaders and members.''

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Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Rubaie said the suspects had been transferred immediately to Baghdad, but he provided no more information about their identities. Seven other suspected al-Qaida fighters had been arrested in the center of Baqouba, and 30 hostages were released from a prison elsewhere in the provincial capital, al-Rubaie said.

The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it said in a statement earlier Saturday that at least 55 al-Qaida operatives have been killed and 23 detained since the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. It also said 16 weapons caches have been discovered, and 28 roadside bombs and 12 booby-trapped structures have been destroyed.

Earlier this week, creeping house-to-house through western Baqouba, U.S. soldiers made a startling discovery: a suspected al-Qaida field hospital stocked with oxygen tanks, heart defibrillators and other medical equipment.

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It appears that not all of them slipped away as earlier feared. This offensive appears to be aimed at putting all of our enemies in Iraq back on their heels including the Iranians. The massive scope should make it difficult for the enemy to find a place to run to. Diyala has been the sanctuary of last resort for the last nine months.