Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/world/middleeast/al-qaeda-claims-new-attack-in-iraq.html
July 26, 2012
Insurgents and Troops Clash in Iraq
By ROD NORDLAND [-ir] [maliki is in power struggle with fellow Shi’a groups and Iraq’s Sunni minority] [the SOFA that President Bush signed in 2008 provided for U.S. to leave by December 31, 2011] [Obama kept it on track] [the flurry of attacks that began in January, after U.S. withdrew combat troops in December, has continued to ramp up?] [followup] [an isurgent attack that kills nearly 100 and is clearly intended to try to re ignite the civil war of 2006-07] [the insurgency has tried many times to precipitate this very thing] [followup] [now we may see: is the Shi’a led govt prepared to defend itself and its democracy such as it exist in Iraq?] [*]
CAIRO — Insurgents from Al Qaeda in Iraq clashed with the country’s security forces on Thursday, the second attack this week in what the insurgent group’s leader has depicted as a new offensive aimed at recapturing lost ground. [*]
The attack came as Syrian refugees tried to flee across the Iraqi border, joining migrations to Turkey and Lebanon over the past week. At a border crossing near Al Qaim, Iraq, where the Syrian side of the border was under rebel control, more than 2,000 Syrian refugees arrived in recent days, said Saadoun Shallan, head of the Anbar Provincial Council. [*]
At least 12 people were killed in an attack in Diyala Province, including five Iraqi policemen and seven militants, a police official said. The Associated Press reported that an Iraqi helicopter was shot down, but Iraqi officials said it had only been damaged.
The fighting began Wednesday night in Hadid, a town about six miles northwest of Baquba. The area was once an insurgent stronghold. [*]
“It was fierce fighting and lasted several hours between the security forces and Al Qaeda fighters,” said Blaer Hassan, a provincial security official in Diyala. “This is a setback because we are worried about the capacity of Iraqi forces in the face of the growing strength of Al Qaeda,” he added. [*]
On Sunday, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, who uses the pseudonym Abu Bakir al-Baghdadi, announced in an unusual audio recording, posted on a jihadi Web site, that an offensive was about to begin in which the insurgents would seek to regain ground they had held in Iraq before American forces helped oust them.
The next day, the group began a coordinated series of at least 40 attacks that killed more than 100 people throughout Iraq. Al Qaeda has also announced its intention to join the conflict in Syria on the side of the popular uprising there, although opposition leaders have disavowed any connection with extremist groups.
Omar al-Jawoshy contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Diyala and Anbar Provinces.