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Iraq plans crackdown in violent province
Iraq's defense minister promised on Sunday to wage a new crackdown northeast of Baghdad in a volatile province where militants have been driven by the influx of U.S. troops to the capital. Suicide attacks have killed more than 20 people in the last three days in Diyala province, a tribal patchwork of Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds that stretches from Baghdad to the border with Iran.Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi told The Associated Press that preparations had begun for a fresh military operation in the provincial capital Baqouba, about 35 miles from Baghdad. "If we succeed in controlling areas of Diyala close to Baghdad, the rate of incidents in Baghdad decreases by 95 percent," al-Obeidi told The Associated Press. Posted by: Fred 2007-12-10 |
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