BAGHDAD - US military officials on Thursday claimed that Al Qaeda fighters have been migrating to northern areas of Iraq after being chased out of safe havens in Baghdad and other volatile regions. As more and more Sunni Arabs from IraqÂ’s west and from Baghdad align with US forces to fight the group, Al Qaeda in Iraq militants have been moving to provinces such as Nineveh, Kirkuk and Salaheddin, they said.
General David Petraeus, the head of US-led coalition forces in Iraq, said Thursday that troops were chasing Al Qaeda fighters to where they were headed. “Rest assured we try to make the adjustments necessary to pursue them,” he told reporters in Baghdad, referring to the group’s increased movements in these provinces.
On Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who made a surprise one-night visit to Iraq, said Al Qaeda fighters were moving to the north after being pushed “out from the west and south.”
The groupÂ’s increased movements in the north is confirmed by the fact that as violence in Baghad and Anbar fell, there has been a steady rise in bloodshed in the northern provinces. On Wednesday, Gates specifically mentioned that Mosul was witnessing increased militant activities.
The militant group has, however, managed to maintain its threat in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, where despite military assaults suicide attacks are still a regular occurrance. Diyala has been a stronghold of Al Qaeda for many years now. The former head of the group, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was slain in a US air strike in the province last year. To counter them the US military began last month Operation Iron Hammer which encompasses not just Diyala, but also Salaheddin, Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces. |