U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division and Iraqi volunteer civilians are seen shortly after the second roadside bomb explosion of the day during the Sukhumi clearing operation Iraq, March 7, 2008 (AP)

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (L) shakes hands with Turkish President Abdullah Gul (R) during his arrival to presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, 7 March 2008 (EPA)

Iraqi Shiites attend Friday prayers at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, south of Baghdad, Iraq, 7 March 2008 (EPA)

Jalal Talabani, speaking to members of a Turkish-Iraqi joint business group, also called on Turkish businesses to invest in Iraq, saying increased oil revenues had now put his country in a position where it was able to meet payments.

"We want to forge strategic relations in all fields including oil, the economy, trade, culture and politics," Talabani said.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Talabani suggested that both countries set up a body whose aim would be to strengthen ties between the neighbors. "Let's set up a high council whose aim would be to develop and oversee relations," Talabani said. "This council could be headed by the prime minister or the foreign minister."

Talabani, a Kurd, arrived in Turkey on Friday to allay tensions caused by Turkey's military operation against Kurdish rebels who launch attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq. the offensive ended a week ago.

Some had feared the incident could lead to a wider conflict between the two U.S. allies.

Talabani said Kurdish rebels would not be tolerated inside its borders, and said Iraq was continuing to put pressure on them to lay down their arms.

Turkey is concerned that the example set by the Iraqi Kurds, who run a virtual mini-state within Iraq, could encourage Turkey's Kurdish population to seek a similar arrangement.

During Turkey's ground incursion, Iraq demanded an immediate withdrawal and warned of the potential for clashes between Turkish troops and security forces of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. The Turkish military, which is receiving U.S. intelligence, said it inflicted heavy losses on a large group of rebels in Iraq's Zap region. The PKK has disputed the claim.

The PKK has said it wants political and cultural autonomy for the predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey. The conflict started in 1984 and has killed tens of thousands of people.

On Saturday, Iraq's oil minister said his government will not recognize any oil deals that the northern Kurdish self-governing region has unilaterally inked with foreign companies. "The central government is in charge of the administration of natural resources and agreements not approved by the central government will not be recognized," Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani said after a meeting with Turkey's Energy Minister Hilmi Guler.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has approved several contracts with international companies, causing tensions with the Iraqi government, which is seeking centralized control over the country's oil resources.

Guler said the two discussed projects to transport Iraqi oil and natural gas to Turkey. "We want to give gas to Turkey and we see it as a transit country," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted al-Shahristani as saying.

Turkey buys oil from Iraq through a twin pipeline running from northern Iraq to a Turkish Mediterranean port. The United States supports plans for a gas pipeline from Iraq to Turkey to help meet Europe's growing energy demands.

The former No. 2 US commander in Iraq says Iran is still training, funding and providing weapons to insurgents there.

AFP/POOL/File Photo: Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, seen here in 2007, the number two commander of US troops...

"I think we have to keep the pressure on them," said Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, who until recently was second in command in Iraq in charge of day-to-day military operations.

"What they ought to stop doing is training surrogates, funding surrogates and supplying weapons to them, which they are still doing today," he told reporters.

Odierno's comments came just a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq during the first visit ever to Iraq by an Iranian president.

Ahmadinejad was warmly received by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, who said there was "a high level of trust" between them, and praised Iran's recent position toward Iraq as "extremely helpful."

US lawmakers denounced the Iranian's president's visit, but the commander of US forces in the Middle East, Admiral William Fallon, said it was an opportunity for Iraqi leaders to press Ahmadinejad to stop the arms flow.

"This is a venue in which we might be able to move some kind of a dialogue forward to get them to be more cooperative and helpful in this area," Fallon said.

"The levels of lethal assistance into Iraq (are) difficult for us to pinpoint but there certainly has been a diminution of activity in the last several months, particularly with regard to these IEDs, explosively formed penetrators," he said.

"How much of this is directly the result of decisions made in Tehran, how much is due to our own people and their good work in the field, I don't know," he said. "But this kind of trend is something we want to see accelerated and moved on."

Odierno acknowledged that Iraq needed good relations with Iran, but questioned whether Iran is being "helpful," citing its continued support for Shiite extremists.

The general alluded to a boast on Monday by Ahmadinejad that he was able to visit Iraq openly, unlike other foreign leaders who made unannounced visits that lasted just a few hours.

"My comment is I'm not surprised. Because over the last 12 months whenever a visitor would come from the United States, we needed to foil a rocket attack, he said.

"Guess what? That is because it was being done by an Iranian surrogate."

Odierno cited Iran as one of several factors that could reverse gains made over the past year in reducing the violence, along with intra-Shia violence and a spectacular attack that could rekindle sectarian violence.

He said Iran's support for insurgent groups was "about keeping, in my opinion, a weak government in Iraq, and Iran benefits from that. And that's something we have to keep looking at as we move forward."

Coalition Forces capture Special Groups facilitator; detain two suspects

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces captured a suspected Special Groups facilitator and detained one other suspected criminal early Monday in Mashru, south of Baghdad.
 
The targeted individual was reportedly a Special Groups logistical advisor for Wasit Province. As a logistical leader, he allegedly facilitated the movement of Special Groups criminals involved in sniper and explosively formed penetrator, EFP, attacks against Iraqi and Coalition Forces. He is also suspected of facilitating weapon shipments to include EFPs, rockets and mortars. Reports also indicate the wanted individual was an associate of Iranian-backed Special Groups criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi and Coalition Forces.

Intelligence led ground forces to the target area where they captured the wanted individual and the one other suspected criminal without incident.

UPDATE: Coalition forces identify AQI leader, associate killed in Mosul raid

 

Map of Mosul. Click map to view.

As US and Iraqi security forces position forces to remove al Qaeda in Iraq from its last urban stronghold, Multinational Forces Iraq killed two senior Saudi al Qaeda operatives in the northern city. Multinational Forces Iraq announced today it killed Abu Yasir al Saudi and Hamdan during a helicopter strike at the end of February.

Abu Yasir al Saudi was al Qaeda in Iraq’s emir, or leader, of southeastern Mosul. Yasir fought NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan prior to arriving in Mosul in August 2007 “with a group of foreign terrorists,” Multinational Forces Iraq stated. His initial posting was a local cell leader, but he rose through the ranks of al Qaeda in Iraq. He was later appointed as a “key operational leader responsible for orchestrating, as well as participating in, attacks conducted by his [al Qaeda in Iraq] foreign terrorist network throughout the city.” He became the emir of southeastern Mosul after his commander was captured by Task Force 88, the hunter-killer teams assigned to dismantling al Qaeda in Iraq’s network, on Feb. 18.

Yasir also had close links to the leaders of al Qaeda’s northern network and was said to be a close associate of Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq’s commander. Yasir facilitated, planned, and participated in improvised explosive device and small-arms attacks against US and Iraqi forces in Mosul. He was behind an attempted attack using a 5,000 pound truck bomb. Yasir’s cell disguised a truck with markings of a Red Crescent food relief vehicle, but US forces found and destroyed the vehicle before his could be used to kill civilians and security forces.

Hamdan was a close associate of Yasir, although it is not clear when he entered Iraq. He helped foreign terrorists enter Mosul and “led a regional anti-aircraft ring.”

Saudi Arabian nationals make up the largest element of the foreign al Qaeda fighters, according to al Qaeda documents seized by US forces and analyzed West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. Based on documentation found during the capture of Muthanna, al Qaeda’s emir along the Iraq/Syrian border who was responsible for facilitating the entry of foreign terrorists, 41 percent of foreign fighters were from Saudi Arabia. “Libyan nationals accounted for the second largest group entering Iraq in that time period with about 19 percent of the total, followed by Syrians and Yemenis each at 8 percent, Algerians with 7 percent and Moroccans at 6 percent,” Reuters reported.

Yasir and Hamdan’s deaths highlight al Qaeda’s Central Command’s commitment to Iraq. Yasir was deployed from Afghanistan to Iraq in August 2007, just when it became clear al Qaeda was encountering problems due to the massive offensive launched against the terror network in 2007. In late October, Osama bin Laden, the global leader of al Qaeda, lamented the terror group’s tactic situation. Bin Laden said “the darkness has become pitch black" for al Qaeda in Iraq, yet exhorted its leaders to change tactics and continue the fight.

US and Iraqi security force have increased the pressure on al Qaeda in Mosul. Multinational Forces Iraq said 142 al Qaeda leaders and operatives have been killed or captured in Mosul since January, when the Iraqi government said it would launch a decisive battle against the terror group. Al Qaeda’s leaders and fighters have migrated to Mosul after being ejected from its strongholds in Baghdad, Anbar, and Diyala provinces.

US and Iraqi security forces have conducted major sweeps against al Qaeda in Iraq cells in Mosul throughout January. The larger raids netted one al Qaeda fighter killed and 14 captured on Feb. 11, 21 captured on Feb. 13, 11 captured on Feb. 22, and 27 captured on Feb. 23.

But the sweeps and clearing operations are only the beginning. US and Iraqi security forces are using the same model as was used in Baghdad – establishing security outposts in the heart of the neighborhood throughout Mosul. At least 18 Combat Outposts, which are manned jointly by US and Iraqi forces, are being built in Mosul to prevent al Qaeda from reestablishing itself once the neighborhoods have been cleared.

 

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