Al Qaeda loses another leader south of Baghdad

CNN:

An al Qaeda in Iraq leader who was suspected of helping to plan a large scale attack against coalition forces "in the near future" was killed by a U.S. air strike south of Baghdad last week, the U.S. military said.

The military also said it captured "dozens of suspected extremists" connected to al Qaeda in an assault south of Baghdad on Saturday.

Muhammad Khalil Ibrahim, identified as the deputy military leader for the al Qaeda's network south of Baghdad, was killed along with two other terrorists in the air strike on their vehicle on Dec. 27, the military said.

Ibrahim was "a key planner in numerous attacks against Coalition forces operating in the Mahmudiyah area, and was also involved in the facilitation of foreign terrorists and weapons," the military said.

The news release announcing the deaths said Ibrahim "and other senior al Qaeda members were allegedly planning to conduct a large-scale attack against Coalition forces in the near future."

On Saturday, the U.S. military and Iraqi Army launched an assault south of Baghdad in the Ubaydi farmland area, described by one U.S. soldier as a place where "people are either aligned with al Qaeda in Iraq or they've been killed or chased away."

More than 40 suspected extremists were captured, including 32 that were on the Iraqi Army's "most-wanted list," the military said.

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This is more evidence of the increase in actionable intelligence as a result of the surge and the incorporation of "Concerned Citizens" groups into the security operations. While the bulk of al Qaeda remnants fled north of Baghdad, there were some who had embedded south of the city that were the subject of this successful attack. The capture of 32 on the military's most wanted list is likely to lead to even more intelligence on enemy operations. The death of a leader and the capture of operatives planning a large scale attack is just one more blow to al Qaeda's plans in recent months.

Bill Roggio has more on the destruction of al Qaeda operations in Diyala north of Baghdad.

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The latest Coalition raid in Miqdadiyah occurred on Jan. 3, resulting in seven al Qaeda fighters killed. Coalition special forces, part of Task Force 88, the hunter-killer teams assigned to hunt al Qaeda's networks, "targeted associates of an al Qaeda in Iraq leader allegedly responsible for coordinating and directing a large terrorist group, and carrying out executions in the Diyala River Valley region." Coalition forces called in an airstrike on a safe house, killing two al Qaeda operatives. Five additional al Qaeda terrorists were killed in a follow-on raid.

In other operations on Jan. 3, Iraq soldiers captured "a high ranking commander in al Qaeda's network" in Diyala province, Voices of Iraq reported. The "Iraqi Army 5th Division, 2nd Brigade troops managed to capture a high ranking commander in al Qaeda's network called Nu’aman al Ubaidi in a military operation conducted at Tahweelah village belonging to Khalis, 15 [kilometers] north of Baqubah," said Staff General Salem al Mandalawi, the 5th Division commanding officer. Ubaidi "worked as a lieutenant in the 5th Division, before leaving the army and joining al Qaeda members." Two US soldiers were also killed and one wounded during operations in Diyala province, Multinational Forces Iraq reported.

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There is still work to do in the Diyala area where al Qaeda is attacking the Sunnis who have rallied to our side.