Baghdad, September 27, 2007 – A new criminal and organized movement is reported to have been set off by Sunni Arab extremists to gun down the officials of the Interior Ministry, police officers, tribal leaders throughout Iraq and has launched at least 10 attacks in 2 days since the Interior Ministry is dominated by Shiites. In this campaign, they have so far killed eight policemen, including the police chief of Baquba, the largest city in Diyala Province also wounded over 30 police officers. In one attack, two police high officers survived the attack, but one of them was left in critical condition. However, Major Gen. Hussein Kamal, Deputy Interior Minister for Information and National Investigations had a prior information and warning by the Arab Extremists, but the attacks are not stopped. (IR Summary).

One group, the Islamic State of Iraq, took responsibility on Tuesday for the attack in Diyala, which killed at least 18 people on Monday. The group has ties to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a homegrown extremist group whose leadership has foreign ties, according to American intelligence officials.

The latest outbreak of violence closely follows the concerted efforts of President Bush and Gen. David H. Petraeus to portray the American troop “surge” as having succeeded in bringing more stability to Iraq. Iraqi officials said Tuesday that the attacks might well have been intended to blunt that message.

“The main reason behind all these attacks are the signs of improvement of the security situation mentioned in the Crocker-Petraeus report,” said Tahseen al-Sheikhly, the Iraqi spokesman for the security plan, in a reference to the recent Congressional testimony of General Petraeus and the American ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker. “The terrorist groups are just trying to say to the world that the report did not reflect the reality of the security situation in Iraq.”

Mr. Sheikhly played down the recent violence, though, saying the groups were seeking publicity to compensate for their inability to conduct major offensive operations, which have been sharply curtailed by the surge.
Indeed, the enormous car and truck bombs that plagued Baghdad for so long have been absent in recent weeks. But the string of attacks this week served as a reminder of the insurgency’s persistence, particularly in areas outside of Baghdad and its environs.

In addition to the attack on Monday in Diyala, insurgents struck in Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk, Falluja, Kut and Samarra. The strikes occurred primarily in mixed areas of Shiites and Sunni Arabs or in exclusively Sunni Arab areas where there is fighting between Sunni Arab tribes and extremist groups like Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Each attack on its own would hardly be notable, since almost every day in Iraq brings a few roadside bombings and shootings, but so many attacks singling out similar victims suggest a more concerted campaign.
 

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?th&emc=th

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