The U.S. military launched a major offensive early Tuesday against one of the largest known redoubts of al-Qaeda in Iraq, part of a new nationwide campaign to destroy remaining pockets of the Sunni insurgency. The unusually large attack by 5,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops in volatile Diyala province reflects growing concern that success in rooting the group out of Baghdad and Anbar province to the west has driven its members to northern areas such as the Diyala River Valley and the city of Mosul. U.S. officials said an estimated 200 fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq created a mini-state here in what Americans call the Bread Basket, a 50-square-mile, shoe-shaped region northeast of Baghdad that stretches from the northern Diyala River to a parallel canal to the east. Residents said the fighters, whom some described as foreigners, imposed curfews and strict interpretations of sharia, or Islamic law. Full Story
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