Al Qaeda shifts to northern, eastern Iraq: general

WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda fighters have been pushed toward eastern and northern Iraq where violence is now the highest in the country despite an overall decline in attacks, a senior US officer has said.

"What you see is that the enemy is shifting," Major General Mark Hertling, the new commander of Multi-National Division North, told here on Monday via video link from Iraq.
     
A turnaround by Sunni tribes in the western province of Al-Anbar has pushed Al-Qaeda fighters east, while US successes in securing Baghdad have driven others north from the capital, he said.
     
"Whereas all types of attacks, but specifically IEDs (improvised explosive devices) have decreased throughout Iraq ... the north has the highest number of attacks in all of Iraq," Hertling said.

The general said bombs account for more than half the attacks in his area of responsibility, but their number has dropped sharply in recent months from 1,830 in June to 900 in October.

"We had 466 as of the 19th of November and for the same period of time last month, as of 19th of October, there were 520," he said.
     
"The attacks are still much higher than I'd like in the north but they are continuing to decrease in numbers and scale of attack," he said.
     
Hertling said 200 suspected Al-Qaeda cell members arrested in raids in early November were providing good intelligence.

But he said it will be "a very tough fight" to eliminate Al-Qaeda and other extremist and insurgent groups in the north.