Still, attacks continue, like the one in Hilla Monday that killed more than 100 people, despite detention of top militants. The arrest of seven key insurgents in the past two weeks, including Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and top aides to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are giving a much-needed morale boost to Iraq’s counterinsurgency efforts. Indeed, some Iraqi officials see the momentum beginning to shift since the Jan. 30 elections. They say Iraqi citizens are providing more tips, and that a series of videotaped confessions by captured insurgents shown on Iraqi TV are helping discredit the rebels. “We are very close to al-Zarqawi, and I believe that there are a few weeks separating us from him,” Iraq’s interim national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie told the Associated Press. Analysts agree that the string of arrests are likely to hurt the insurgency. But the decentralized nature of the uprising makes it difficult to dismantle. A massive car bombing in Hilla, Iraq, Monday underscored the point. The bomb exploded near a line of recruits for the Iraqi security forces in the southern Iraq town, killing more than 100 people, one of the largest death tolls from a car bomb in Iraq. Full Story
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