House to house fighting in Baqubah

Reuters:

Thousands of U.S. soldiers on the offensive north of Baghdad are facing fierce resistance from hundreds of al Qaeda militants who are ready to fight to the death, an American general said on Friday.

The militants are making their stand in and around the Iraqi city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, where the U.S. military on Tuesday launched one of its biggest operations since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"It is house to house, block to block, street to street, sewer to sewer," said Brigadier-General Mick Bednarek, commander of Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Iraq's Diyala province.

...

Bednarek estimated several hundred al Qaeda militants were at Baquba and it would be a long and dangerous job for U.S. forces to flush them out.

"They will not go any further. They will fight to the death," Bednarek told Reuters and another news agency.

"There have been houses that were used by al Qaeda as safe houses ... their entire structures rigged with massive explosives."

...

Bednarek said U.S. forces were making some grisly discoveries as they scoured Baquba.

He said residents led soldiers to a house in the western part of the city that appeared to have been used to hold, torment and kill hostages. Soldiers destroyed it.

"When you walk into a room and you see blood trails, you see saws, you see drills, knives, in addition to weapons, that is not normal," Bednarek said.

...

It is probably pretty normal for al Qaeda which has its own torture manual. Andrew Sullivan get on your high dudgeon over some real torture for a change.

The commanders are showing remarkable availability to the media in this operation. getting the media out with the troops always seems to improve their reporting, even Reuters.