Enemy targets police officers and tribal leaders

NY Times:

Sunni Arab extremists have begun a systematic campaign to assassinate police chiefs, police officers, other Interior Ministry officials and tribal leaders throughout Iraq, staging at least 10 attacks in the last 48 hours.

Eight policemen have been killed, among them the police chief of Baquba, the largest city in Diyala Province. Two other police chiefs survived attacks, although one was left in critical condition, and about 30 police officers were injured, according to reports from local security officers.

“We warned the government just a few days ago that there is a new plan by terrorist groups to target senior governmental officials, and particularly Interior Ministry officials,” said Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the deputy interior minister for information and national investigations. The Interior Ministry is dominated by Shiites, as are the security forces, which are widely distrusted by Sunni Arabs.

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This probably reflects their inability to do mass murder explosions. It could be described as an economy of force move necessitated by the attrition of their capacity for mass murder attacks because of the shortage of human bomb prospects.

This new tactic provides an opportunity for more effective use of snipers by US forces where the police chiefs and tribal leaders are the "bait" for the terrorist. By having a limited number of targets the enemy takes away their ambiguity as to time and place of attack making it easier for our forces to thwart those attacks. War is a constant pattern of adaptation, and this is just one more as we grind this enemy down.