Al Qaeda attacks Iraqis in Diyala

AFP:

A raid by suspected Al-Qaeda fighters on a small town northeast of Baghdad on Thursday and an ensuing battle with police and members of a rival Sunni militant group killed 23 people, police said.

Brigadier General Ali Dalayan, police chief of Diyala's provincial capital of Baquba, said more than 200 fighters from Al-Qaeda's Iraq affiliate attacked a mosque and the homes of tribal sheikhs in the town of Kanan.

"The first attack was against a mosque," he told AFP. "They blew up the mosque, then they bombed houses crowded with family members."

Three houses were attacked, including those of two sheikhs who support Iraqi police and US troops in their fight against Al-Qaeda, he said.

"Sheikh Yunis al-Tae was killed in the attack" along with an unknown number of his sons in one of the homes, Dalayan said.

Police countered the attack with the support of gunmen from the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution, a Sunni insurgent group which was once allied to Al-Qaeda but which has now become one of its fiercest rivals.

He was unable immediately to say how many people died in the raids and how many in the ensuing gunbattle. At least one police officer was among the dead.

Dalayan said police had chased the attackers but had had a "difficult time as they planted roadside bombs around the town before escaping."

"We have arrested 22 Al-Qaeda suspects," he said. They were detained south of Kanan, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad, in an area known to be a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

He said the attackers however managed to abduct 15 people, eight women and seven children.

The raid on the town came despite a massive military crackdown in Diyala by some 16,000 US and Iraqi troops who claimed success in their assault.

The US military said the 12-day Operation Lightning Hammer ended Thursday successfully, with around 26 Al-Qaeda fighters killed and 50 villages cleared.

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This story does a better job of explaining events. Other reports have concentrated on the killing of the Sheik and the kidnapping rather than the whole event in context. What the story indicates is that the Iraqis fought back against the terrorist and had some success. It also indicates that there are still some al Qaeda operatives loose in the area which is what the US has been saying and is the stated reason for the continued operations.