Official: Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader Wounded
The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was wounded and an aide was killed Thursday in a clash with Iraqi forces north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The clash occurred near Balad, a major U.S. base about 50 miles north of the capital, Brig. Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
Khalaf said al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed.
Khalaf declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured, and there was no report on the incident from U.S. authorities. Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said he had no information about such a clash or that al-Masri had been involved.
Al-Masri took over the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after its charismatic leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. air strike last June in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
Meanwhile U.S. and Iraqi forces pushed deeper into Sunni militant strongholds in Baghdad — where cars rigged with explosives greeted their advance — while British-led teams in southern Iraq used shipping containers to block suspected weapon smuggling routes from Iran.
The series of car bomb blasts, which killed at least seven civilians, touched all corners of Baghdad. But they did little to disrupt a wide-ranging security sweep seeking to weaken militia groups' ability to fight U.S.-allied forces — and each other.
The attacks, however, pointed to the critical struggle to gain the upper hand on Baghdad's streets. The Pentagon hopes its current campaign of arrests and arms seizures will convince average Iraqis that militiamen are losing ground.
It will take a lot of convincing.
Iraqis, such as Sunnis living on Haifa Street in central Baghdad, still live in mortal fear, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan.
"Right now it is very difficult with the enemy that is around here in this area — it is a real hostile area," says Lt. Juan Cantu, whose Crazyhorse Troop is guarding Haifa Street. "These people are scared just to go outside their front door."
In other developments:
Most of the latest resistance has come from Sunni factions, which perceive their Saddam Hussein-era influence slipping away as the majority Shiites extend their political muscle and bolster ties to Iran.
In Baghdad's Dora neighborhood — a longtime Sunni militant hotbed — two parked cars wired with explosives were triggered as a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol rolled pass. The convoy was unharmed, but the blast killed at least four civilians and injured 15.
Control of the Dora district, a once-upscale neighborhood favored by Saddam's regime favorites, is important as a gateway between Baghdad and the Iraq's Shiite-dominated south. Two other car bomb blasts came as security forces moved through the city, killing at least three civilians.
Outside Baghdad, troops also faced Sunni ambushes. In Buhriz, about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, Sunni gunmen and soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment engaged in a 20-minute firefight.
U.S. Bradley fighting vehicles fired 25mm rounds into homes shielding the gunmen, said an Associated Press reporter traveling with the unit. No U.S. casualties were reported and the militant toll was not known.
Even the first steps of the security operation display the sectarian divides complicating any plan to calm Baghdad, which is key to begin stabilizing the rest of the country.
A leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, Adnan al-Dulaimi, claimed the U.S.-led sweeps have "started to attack" mostly Sunni areas. "It should concentrate on those who perpetrating the violence and terrorist acts in all districts," he said, an apparent reference to the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City.
Around the city, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers set up dozens of roadway checkpoints and conducted top-to-bottom searches of vehicles and motorbikes. Waiting in a snarl of traffic at one blockade, Mohammed al-Jubouri said people are willing to put up with the troubles as long as the latest security sweep shows some results after a wave of bombings have killed hundreds of civilians since the beginning of the year.
"We are fed up with these stalling words," he said. "We want only the security and stabilization."
Mohammed Ali Jassim, a 40-year-old Sunni owner of a spare parts store, said he was hopeful it would work after he was forced to abandon his business in Sinak, one of Baghdad's commercial areas where more than 50 people were kidnapped by gunmen disguised in military uniforms late last year. Jassim's brother was among the victims.
"I wish I could open my store again and send my children to their schools without fear of being kidnapped or killed," said Jassim.
But a supermarket owner in western Baghdad, Anwar Abdullah, claimed the security push is doomed for failure because most of the militants have fled the city in advance.
"It sounds that we are going to be affected more than terrorists by this security plan," he said.
After nightfall — and the daily citywide curfew — U.S. warplanes flew low over Baghdad in an apparent attempt to show the security push is gathering momentum.
In southern Iraq, British and Iraqi security forces closed two border points with Iran at Sheeb and Shalamcha — blocking the gates with large metal shipping containers — and expanded coastal patrols to monitor maritime traffic into southern Iraq, a statement said.
Authorities also set up checkpoints ringing Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the commercial hub of the Shiite-dominated south. The British military said the operation would last for 72 hours.
President Bush said Wednesday the Iranian government is providing armor-piercing bomb to kill American soldiers in Iraq, although he backed away from claims the top echelon of Iran's government was responsible.
Iraq also temporarily closed its borders with Syria on Wednesday. Washington and some allies have claimed Sunni militants have used Syria's porous border with Iraq as vital supply routes.