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Militants strike Baghdad neighourhood patrols
BAGHDAD - Gunmen and bombers launched three attacks on US-backed neighbourhood security patrols in Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least three of the patrol members and wounding 17. The patrol members, who are paid by US forces and not officially part of the Iraqi security forces, have increasingly come under attack by militants.
Had to expect this. It's easier for al-Qaeda to go after the patrols than our troops; though it's just going to make things worse long-term for the terrorists.
In one incident on Saturday, bombers killed two patrol members and wounded 10 in a strike on their headquarters in the Adhamiya neighbourhood of northern Iraq, until recently a Sunni Arab militant stronghold. Gunmen attacked a patrol in another northern area, killing one patrol member and wounding four. In the southern Doura neighbourhood, another former Sunni militant stronghold, gunmen wounded three patrol members manning a checkpoint.

US forces are trying to isolate Al Qaeda fighters by recruiting Sunni Arabs who have turned against the radical Sunni Arab militants, and by launching regular offensives with Iraqi forces against their hideouts.

The latest offensive started early on Saturday in the Babel province south of Baghdad. It involves Iraqi army soldiers and US troops from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, part of the 3rd Infantry Division, the US military said. Operation Marne Roundup is focused on “flushing out Al Qaeda extremists and weapons smugglers operating” near the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

US commanders said last week the assault would involve around 1,400 US troops and will target Sunni Islamist fighters in small hamlets and fishing villages along the Euphrates River valley in Babel province. By Saturday afternoon, the troops had faced no resistance as they moved to the target area, the statement said.

Suspected Al Qaeda fighters have attacked both Shias and Sunnis in Babel. In one incident more than a month ago, a suicide bomber killed a prominent Sunni tribal leader involved in establishing neighbourhood patrol units in north Babel.

US commanders credit the neighbourhood police units as being one of the main reasons why the number of attacks across Iraq has fallen 60 percent since June. US officials call the patrols “concerned local citizens” and pay some 50,000 patrol members about $10 a day. They are expected to provide their own weapons but are issued ID cards and simple uniforms such as reflector vests or shoulder belts.

The Shi’ite-led government was initially lukewarm over the prospect of men it once regarded as enemies being permitted to take up arms, but now says it will take over the programme from the US military and put most of the patrols on its payroll.
Posted by: Steve White 2007-12-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=213478