American among 3 killed in Green Zone barrage

Losing control of village
An Iraqi army officer in the Mansouria region close to Sherween confirmed that insurgents appeared to be in control of the village. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni radicals took control of much of Diyala last fall after Sunni tribesmen in western Anbar province began turning against them.

Al-Qaida in Iraq emerged several years ago under the leadership of Abu Musa al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian radical who was killed last year in a U.S. airstrike in Diyala. The Iraqi chapter’s relationship to the network led by Osama bin Laden remains a topic of debate among experts.

U.S. commanders have said al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies are the main target of the Baqouba offensive — reflecting an American strategy to woo other Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups.

The Baqouba offensive is part of an intensified security sweep in and around Baghdad aimed at pacifying the capital to boost the beleaguered Iraqi government and allow it to pass benchmark political reforms that U.S. officials hope will draw Sunnis away from the insurgency.

U.S. commanders say they are making progress in clearing Baqouba, but they say many insurgent leaders escaped the city.

In late June, U.S. forces found a grave with six bodies in the village of Ahamir on Baqouba’s northern outskirts, according to a spokesman at Multinational Forces-Iraq in Baghdad.

The U.S. command in Baqouba did not respond to e-mails from The Associated Press seeking more details. But a freelance journalist, Michael Yon, embedded with U.S. troops in Baqouba, was able to visit the gravesite with an American cavalry unit last month.

Village apparently abandoned
Yon said he was told by military personnel in the vicinity that the killings were presumably carried out by al-Qaida in Iraq militants.

According to Yon’s description, the village appeared to be abandoned. Beside the Americans, Iraqi troops were present helping to dig up the bodies. Some of the disinterred corpses appeared to be fairly recently killed and others showed greater decomposition, suggesting they were older graves, according to Yon, who posted photographs of some of the bodies on the Web.

This week, an official at Diyala’s Health Ministry control office, which keeps track of bodies, told AP that authorities had found the bodies of 35 men at Ahamir and brought them to Baqouba morgue. All had been shot and some showed signs of torture, including whippings and branding, and appeared to have been killed recently, said the official. The men were Sunnis, according to families who retrieved the bodies, said the official.

It was not immediately clear whether the 35 bodies included those seen by Yon.

An Iraqi army officer who was in Ahamir confirmed the discovery of the bodies and said troops found a room apparently used as a prison by the militants. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to the press.

The newly reported fighting in Sherween, the operation to dislodge militants from Baqouba proper, and the bodies found in Ahamir point to an ongoing challenge in those areas to both the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.

As Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari told reporters Monday: “The centers of leadership and primary control of all the terrorist organizations are located in Diyala.”

MORE FROM CONFLICT IN IRAQ

Conflict in Iraq Section Front

Iraqi parliament passes key election law U.S. military: 2 American pilots die in Iraq Kirkuk focus of Iraq election law deadlock Conflict in Iraq Section Front   Add Conflict in Iraq headlines to your news reader: