The U.S. military is now trying to set traps to eliminate al Qaeda militants around Baghdad as an offensive to reign in terror groups.
As the violence and bloodshed unleashed ever since the war on terror began continues, the casualties keep rising day by day on all sides, be it military, civilians or terrorists.
In the most recent attack, the terrorists rammed a suicide truck into a mosque in Kirkuk killing 16 people and injuring several others. The U.S. army lost 12 soldiers in the past two days, mostly in roadside bombings.
The U.S. military in Iraq has risen to 156,000 soldiers. The U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are pushing on with simultaneous operations in Baghdad under Operation Phantom Thunder, a new plan aimed at eliminating militants. The army is also carrying out extensive raids on suspected militant hideouts aimed to deny militants sanctuary in the farmlands and towns surrounding Baghdad. The operation has so far killed 40 militants.
The army has warned of hard fighting in the next 45-60 days.
The military says that roadside bombs are by far the biggest killers of U.S. forces in Iraq. A total of 3,545 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the war on terror began in Iraq in March 2003. It is surmised that some of the most sophisticated roadside bombs, explosively formed penetrators or EFPs - are brought into Iraq from neighboring Iran. Also there has been a rising concern over the surging number of militants being trained in Iraq to be sent to Iraq and other Middle-East countries.
Militants are taking advantage of the surmounting tension between the Shias and Sunnis in the country and are using them to fuel their unholy war. U.S. President George W. Bush has sent 28,000 more soldiers to curb sectarian violence and buy Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki time to reach a political accord with the dissatisfied minority Sunni Arabs.
Operation Phantom Thunder is a military operation with clear objectives to eliminate terror groups and give time to Iraqi Government to set and achieve the conditions for the political and economic progress of the country.
The people of trouble torn Iraq and also Afghanistan need peace, which has been denied to them by years of turmoil.
Via: Reuters
