This time, Al Qaeda kidnaps the women and children. They really must be struggling to survive when they pick on the weak this way.BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda fighters kidnapped 15 Iraqi women and children after rival Sunni Arab militants repelled their attack on two villages in a fierce battle on Thursday in which 32 people were killed, police said.
This time it's Sunni-on-Sunni? Isn't that unusual or does the MSM just not report it because it doesn't fit the "civil war" meme?
The fighting, rare on such a large scale, underscored the growing split between Sunni Arab militant groups and al Qaeda that U.S. forces have sought to exploit as they try to quell sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands.
Wait a New York Minute! I thought the MSM body count was up around 700,000 or so? What's up with this reporter?
U.S. President George W. Bush, under pressure to show progress in the war or start bringing troops home, on Wednesday compared Iraq to Vietnam in urging Americans to be patient. His administration had previously avoided such comparisons, saying there were few parallels.
Except that the Donks wanna cut-n-run in both cases.
Many U.S. Democrats have likened Iraq to Vietnam, calling the war a quagmire that has exacted a toll in American lives and money without furthering U.S. interests.
Yeah, losing only a few hundred more troops in 4 years of battle than how many civilians we lost in a few hours on 9/11 is very comparable to Vietnam, who was backed by the only other superpower in the world at the time.
About 200 al Qaeda fighters raided the villages of Sheikh Tamim and Ibrahim Yehia in restive Diyala province, north of Baghdad, in the early hours of Thursday after launching a mortar attack on the area, police said.
The attack came despite a U.S. offensive in Diyala targeting al Qaeda. U.S. troops launched an operation in June to oust fighters who had taken over large parts of the provincial capital, Baquba. Many escaped to fight on.
Brigadier-General Ali Delayan, the police chief of Baquba, told Reuters that 22 residents had been killed in the fighting along with 10 al Qaeda fighters.
Several wounded residents said villagers were loyal to the Sunni Arab insurgent group, the 1920 Revolution Brigade.
So, does that make them terrorists, or just average Iraqis who have begun turning in all the AQ baddies left and right of recent?
Delayan said the attackers had escaped with eight women and seven children as hostages.
A mosque that served the two villages was destroyed in the fighting and its imam was among those killed, he added.
And, those dastardly 'mericans didn't do it? Why is this even in a MSM report then?
Delayan said the al Qaeda attackers mortared the villages before storming into them. Rocket-propelled grenades were used in the fighting, in which three houses were destroyed.
He said the gun battle with fighters loyal to the 1920 Revolution Brigade, which has recently distanced itself from al Qaeda, was triggered by the execution of four men, including the mosque imam.
Police said they arrested 22 of the attackers.
Out of 200 or so? While I applaud the police and citizens in this standing up to AQ, looks like they need a little more work on how to capture attackers. More hand-wringing over Maliki's gov't at link.