US claims victory against al-Qaeda linked group in northern Iraq

A US Special Forces team asserted that a joint operation with local Kurds against an alleged al-Qaeda-linked group in northern Iraq had been a resounding success, with initial investigations turning up evidence of chemical weapons production. Speaking during a rare appearance before the press, seven special forces officers said Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam) was now “neutralised”, even though many of the group’s fighters may have escaped over the border to neighbouring Iran. “It was pretty damn succesful. In a period of one-and-a-half days, a terrorist organisation that has had a grip on this region was rooted out and neutralised,” one of the officers said Tuesday, during the briefing in Halabja, a town in the southeast of the Iraqi Kurd autonomous zone. “There was a lot of fighting. The Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda were not a pushover,” the officer said. None of the team, decked out in battle fatigues, gave their names. Full Story