U.S. British forces move on insurgent strongholds

BAGHDAD, Iraq--U.S., British and Iraqi troops mounted raids Tuesday in a swath of territory south of Baghdad where armed insurgents have seized control of several cities and towns, imposed stringent Islamic law and carried out kidnappings and routine executions of Iraqi police and religious pilgrims at checkpoints along the main roads.

The intensity of the campaign remained unclear, but a new offensive would mark the fourth sizable assault since October in the U.S. military's attempt to restore some measure of security in regions dominated by Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority before nationwide elections scheduled for Jan. 30. After Fallujah, where U.S. and Iraqi forces mounted a week-long offensive on Nov. 8, the region south of Baghdad is one of the country's most perilous. Dubbed by some Iraqis the "triangle of death," the area is less than an hour from Baghdad, giving rebels a launching pad for attacks on the capital. 



For weeks, U.S. military commanders have been considering an offensive against the region, a string of dusty towns off the west bank of the Euphrates that is populated by Sunnis and Shiite Muslims. But any attack had to wait until U.S. forces concluded operations in Samarra, about 65 miles north of the capital, in October, and this month in Fallujah, to the west, and Mosul, in the north. 



The raids that began Tuesday were carried out by troops already stationed in the area, and military commanders suggested that the brunt of the fighting may still await the dispatch of armored reinforcements from other regions in coming weeks. 



"We see that as a place we can go and have tremendous impact on the security situation in Baghdad because the enemy is using that as a sanctuary right now," one senior U.S. officer said this week. "We just haven't been able to get enough force down there to go and find the caches, then stay down there and get the police up and running." 



The fighting Tuesday began with a series of raids in Jabala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. The military said it detained 32 men believed to be insurgents and, with Iraqi forces, was conducting house-to-house searches and setting up traffic checkpoints. In the past three weeks, it said, U.S. and Iraqi forces had arrested nearly 250 insurgents. 



The military statements could not be independently verified. The territory has become too dangerous for foreign reporters to visit, and many Iraqis have stopped traveling through the area on the way to cities farther south. 



The raids involved elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, along with British troops of the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch Regiment and Iraqi security forces, which together number more than 5,000. The Black Watch Regiment was brought to the area from Basra, in southern Iraq, to free up U.S. troops and help police routes to Fallujah and Baghdad. 



Senior U.S. officers have talked about the possibility of sending a large armored Army force into the largely rural area, drawing troops from the 1st Cavalry Division, which is responsible for the region around Baghdad. But with a sizable segment of the division still tied up in Fallujah, the Marines and the British force were ordered to proceed Tuesday. A U.S. Army officer familiar with the operation said Tuesday night that a significant Army force may still be sent there in coming weeks to continue the push. 



Jabala is east of the most restive part of the region, which comprises the towns of Latifiyah, Yusufiyah, Mahmudiyah and Iskandariyah. There were no reports of fighting or raids in Latifiyah, which residents describe as being under the rule of insurgents who freely roam the streets and set up checkpoints at will. 



Residents there and elsewhere in the area say insurgents have imposed a restrictive strain of religious law, forcing men to keep their hair short and women to wear veils and modest clothing. Shiite pilgrims traveling through the region to the sacred shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala have been harrassed, abducted and sometimes killed, residents say. Dozens of police and National Guard members have been assassinated. 



In November, U.S. and allied forces have conducted the most aggressive military operations since the occupation of Iraq began in April 2003. In addition to the fighting in Fallujah, more than 2,400 U.S. troops entered Mosul last week after insurgents launched an uprising and most police deserted their posts. 



In Washington, officials were cautiously upbeat about the military situation in Iraq. "We continue to take the battle to the enemy," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference. 



Myers also said that during a recent trip to Iraq, he looked at whether there are enough U.S. troops here--an issue that commanders have raised in recent days. "As we flush out insurgents in places such as Fallujah, it is important to have the appropriate force levels to maintain a secure environment," Myers said. 



Defense Department officials have said in recent weeks that they are extending the deployments of some troops and accelerating the moves of others to ensure that they have several thousand extra troops on hand as Iraqi elections approach at the end of January.



Many Iraqis expect a surge in violence before then, as insurgents stage attacks to disrupt elections whose success would likely be seen as a U.S. victory in Iraq. Influential bodies within the Sunni community, thought to account for about one-fifth of Iraq's population, have vowed to boycott the vote, which will chose a National Assembly that will appoint a new government and draft a constitution.