thedrifter
12-01-05, 10:47 AM
December 1, 2005
As Marine Sweeps Continue, Gunmen Kill Eight Iraqis
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 30 - The American military said Wednesday that thousands of American troops and Iraqi soldiers had begun a sweep near the western town of Hit in the volatile Anbar Province, the heartland of the Sunni-led insurgency.
The operation is the latest in a series of offensives along the Euphrates River corridor, where the military is trying to cut off munitions, supply lines and transit routes for foreign fighters flowing in from Syria.
The Marines have led a dozen or so such operations in the past year. The last one ended on Nov. 22, after sweeps of villages near the Syrian border that set off some fierce resistance by insurgents. The most recent offensive involves 1,500 marines and sailors from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 500 American soldiers from a field artillery regiment and 500 Iraqi Army soldiers, said Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool, a spokesman for the Second Marine Division.
The region just east of Hit, 100 miles west of Baghdad, is believed to be a center for the manufacture of car bombs and roadside bombs, Captain Pool said. In early July, the Marines led a sweep of Hit but found few insurgents in the town, he added.
The Marine offensives have met with mixed success. While troops have been able to uncover many weapons caches, they have found that guerrillas retreated from the towns well in advance of the operations. The fighters would return after the Marines left.
The Americans have also captured or killed few foreign fighters in the operations. Some American commanders have said recently that they are beginning to doubt whether foreign fighters are really responsible for the vast majority of the country's suicide bombings, as the military has been asserting since the start of the insurgency. The fact that Iraqis were responsible for the recent hotel bombings in Jordan that killed nearly 60 people has underscored those doubts.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said eight people were killed and one was wounded Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying construction workers in the city of Baquba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Violence in Diyala Province, of which Baquba is the capital, has sharply increased in recent weeks, with insurgents carrying out devastating suicide bomb attacks that have killed more than 100 people, mostly Shiites. Diyala is an ethnically and religiously mixed province, with about 40 percent Sunni Arabs, 35 percent Shiite Arabs, 20 percent Kurds and 5 percent considered "other," according to American commanders in Baquba.
American officers have said they expect violence across Iraq to rise as the Dec. 15 elections for a full, four-year government draw nearer.
Also on Wednesday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, condemned the recent kidnapping of a German archaeologist and aid worker, Susanne Osthoff, saying the government "will not let ourselves be blackmailed." Ms. Osthoff, a longtime resident of Iraq, and her driver were abducted Friday. Their captors gave video of the hostages to a German television station and threatened to kill them unless Germany cut all ties with the Iraqi government.
The kidnapping of Ms. Osthoff, along with the abduction last weekend of four Western members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, has revived fears here that Sunni guerrilla groups may again be seeking out foreign hostages. Such kidnappings peaked in the fall of 2004, when militants released several videotapes of beheadings, and then ebbed after the Marines stormed the insurgent stronghold of Falluja.
A prominent Sunni religious group, the Muslim Scholars Association, called Wednesday for the release of the recently kidnapped foreigners. The group, which says it represents 3,000 mosques in Iraq, has often acted as a go-between during hostage negotiations here.
Ellie
As Marine Sweeps Continue, Gunmen Kill Eight Iraqis
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 30 - The American military said Wednesday that thousands of American troops and Iraqi soldiers had begun a sweep near the western town of Hit in the volatile Anbar Province, the heartland of the Sunni-led insurgency.
The operation is the latest in a series of offensives along the Euphrates River corridor, where the military is trying to cut off munitions, supply lines and transit routes for foreign fighters flowing in from Syria.
The Marines have led a dozen or so such operations in the past year. The last one ended on Nov. 22, after sweeps of villages near the Syrian border that set off some fierce resistance by insurgents. The most recent offensive involves 1,500 marines and sailors from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 500 American soldiers from a field artillery regiment and 500 Iraqi Army soldiers, said Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool, a spokesman for the Second Marine Division.
The region just east of Hit, 100 miles west of Baghdad, is believed to be a center for the manufacture of car bombs and roadside bombs, Captain Pool said. In early July, the Marines led a sweep of Hit but found few insurgents in the town, he added.
The Marine offensives have met with mixed success. While troops have been able to uncover many weapons caches, they have found that guerrillas retreated from the towns well in advance of the operations. The fighters would return after the Marines left.
The Americans have also captured or killed few foreign fighters in the operations. Some American commanders have said recently that they are beginning to doubt whether foreign fighters are really responsible for the vast majority of the country's suicide bombings, as the military has been asserting since the start of the insurgency. The fact that Iraqis were responsible for the recent hotel bombings in Jordan that killed nearly 60 people has underscored those doubts.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said eight people were killed and one was wounded Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying construction workers in the city of Baquba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Violence in Diyala Province, of which Baquba is the capital, has sharply increased in recent weeks, with insurgents carrying out devastating suicide bomb attacks that have killed more than 100 people, mostly Shiites. Diyala is an ethnically and religiously mixed province, with about 40 percent Sunni Arabs, 35 percent Shiite Arabs, 20 percent Kurds and 5 percent considered "other," according to American commanders in Baquba.
American officers have said they expect violence across Iraq to rise as the Dec. 15 elections for a full, four-year government draw nearer.
Also on Wednesday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, condemned the recent kidnapping of a German archaeologist and aid worker, Susanne Osthoff, saying the government "will not let ourselves be blackmailed." Ms. Osthoff, a longtime resident of Iraq, and her driver were abducted Friday. Their captors gave video of the hostages to a German television station and threatened to kill them unless Germany cut all ties with the Iraqi government.
The kidnapping of Ms. Osthoff, along with the abduction last weekend of four Western members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, has revived fears here that Sunni guerrilla groups may again be seeking out foreign hostages. Such kidnappings peaked in the fall of 2004, when militants released several videotapes of beheadings, and then ebbed after the Marines stormed the insurgent stronghold of Falluja.
A prominent Sunni religious group, the Muslim Scholars Association, called Wednesday for the release of the recently kidnapped foreigners. The group, which says it represents 3,000 mosques in Iraq, has often acted as a go-between during hostage negotiations here.
Ellie