WaPo : U.S. troops attack al Qaeda haven south of Baghdad

U.S. troops attack al Qaeda haven south of Baghdad

By Alister Bull | Reuters | July 16, 2007

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of U.S. troops swooped on a suspected al Qaeda safe haven south of Baghdad on Monday used to reinforce militants battling in the capital.

The operation, called Marne Avalanche, aims to stem the flow of weapons and militant fighters into the southern part of Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi forces are already fighting hard to clear them out, the military said in a statement.

In pre-dawn raids, helicopter-borne troops swept into an area the U.S. military said was an al Qaeda safe haven around the Euphrates river valley, 35 km (22 miles) south of Baghdad.

The terrain, criss-crossed with an extensive canal system, has been the location of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and militants in the past and at least one air strike was called in during the early hours of the operation, a spokeswoman said.

"They captured a militant cell leader and seven of his lieutenants, as well as a mobile IED (improvised explosive device) factory," said Major Alayne Conway.

In the Boubal-Shama commercial district northeast of Baghdad, five Iraqi soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. Two people were also killed by a pair of mortar rounds which struck a Shi'ite enclave in the capital's mainly Sunni district of Dora.

SEPTEMBER COUNTDOWN

U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a series of big security clampdowns since the last of 28,000 extra U.S. troops ordered to the country by U.S. President George W Bush arrived a month ago.

They aim to thwart violence between minority Sunni and majority Shi'ite Arabs which has pushed the country towards a full scale civil war, while winning time for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to deliver key power-sharing laws.

Time is pressing. Many Americans want their soldiers to come home soon and senior members of Bush's own Republican party have broken ranks to call for a change in course on the war.

But Bush says he will not alter course before a September review from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, his top two officers in Iraq.

U.S. commanders says Iraqi security forces are a long way from being able to keep the peace without U.S. help and a senior officer told the New York Times that success would not be in sight before spring next year.

"It is going to take us through the summer and fall to deny the enemy his sanctuaries ... and then it is going to take us through the first of the year and into the spring" to secure these gains, it quoted Major General Rick Lynch as saying.

Lynch commands operations south of Baghdad, including Marne Avalanche, which is part of a broader sweep codenamed Marne Torch, launched on June 15, which has as its primary target the Diyala river valley.

The Euphrates and Diyala rivers provide natural smuggling routes for weapons, munitions and fighters into the south of the capital, where U.S. soldiers are trying to stamp out al Qaeda strongholds blamed for many of the deadly attacks fanning sectarian hatred.