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Americans Attack Iraqi Extremists

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By PATRICK QUINN, The Associated Press

Published: December 28, 2007

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces said they waged successful battles against Sunni and Shiite extremists and announced Thursday they had seized two men possibly linked to the capture of three American soldiers this year.

The battles north and south of Baghdad came as the military seeks to take advantage of the improving security situation in Iraq to carry out targeted operations against extremist groups and the foreign-led al-Qaida in Iraq.

In recent weeks, the Americans have been fighting al-Qaida extremists in the area around Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of the capital. The battle against insurgent groups has steadily moved away from Anbar province and Baghdad, and now is focused on the fringes of Diyala province.

"Coalition forces killed 12 terrorists, detained 37 suspects and freed one hostage during a multiday operation from Dec. 22 to 25 to disrupt al-Qaida networks near Muqdadiyah in the Diyala River Valley," an announcement said.

In another operation targeting a Shiite extremist group southeast of Baghdad, U.S. military forces killed 11 militants Thursday. They were reportedly members of an extremist group that had broken away from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

Al-Sadr has declared a cease-fire and said that any Mahdi Army members who do not abide by his freeze no longer will be considered members of the powerful militia. The August cease-fire came after al-Sadr reportedly began losing control of some of the more extremist elements and death squads in his militia.

The cease-fire has been credited for contributing significantly to a 60 percent decline in violence over the past six months. Other contributing factors included an influx of thousands of U.S. troops and the formation of mostly Sunni groups of paid volunteers who agreed to battle al-Qaida for the U.S. military.

The military also said it seized two suspects linked to the capture of three U.S. soldiers taken during a May ambush near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad. The suspects were captured Monday and Tuesday in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

The military said one of the suspects was thought to have "facilitated" the kidnapping and to have used his house to hide the soldiers. A weapon belonging to one of the U.S. soldiers was found at the residence of the other suspect.

Spc. Alex R. Jimenez and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty were seized May 12 when insurgents attacked and overran a checkpoint in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death."

A third soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., was also captured during the raid, but his body was found May 23 floating in the Euphrates River.

The Islamic State of Iraq, a front group for al-Qaida, claimed in an Internet video that the three missing soldiers were killed and buried. The militants showed images of the military IDs of Jimenez and Fouty but offered no proof they were dead.

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