US warplanes launched their biggest air strike in Iraq since at
least 2006, bombarding date palm groves on Baghdad's southern
outskirts with more than 40,000 pounds of bombs in a matter of
minutes.
Two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets struck more than 40 al
Qaeda targets in three zones of Arab Jabour, a lush district just
south of the capital that has become a haven for fighters driven
out of other areas.
The attack formed part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a major
countrywide offensive against al Qaeda guerrillas that US forces
announced this week.
"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with
a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds," the military said in a
statement.
"Each bomber passed over twice and the F-16s followed to
complete the set."
US forces spokesman Major Winfield Danielson said it was the
biggest air strike in Iraq since at least 2006.
A spokeswoman for US forces in central Iraq, Major Allayne
Conway, said it was too soon to assess the damage inflicted.
"We certainly have our opponents on the ropes and we're going to go
after him while he is on the ropes," said Lieutenant-Colonel Robert
Wilson, deputy commander of the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd
Infantry Division, in a statement.
Large-scale air strikes have been rare in Iraq, especially over the
past few months when the intensity of military action tapered off
as overall violence declined and US commanders emphasised "hearts
and minds" engagement with civilians.
In televised remarks to security officials, Iraq's prime minister
Nuri al-Maliki said: "The sectarian violence has ended and we are
now aiming to complete the national reconciliation process with the
whole spectrum of the Iraqi people."
But the operation launched this week shows a renewed determination
by US forces to use traditional combat power against a stubborn al
Qaeda enemy that has not lost its ability to launch attacks despite
being driven from most areas.
Toll on US soldiers
The offensive has taken its toll on American forces as well.
After a month in which the rate of US-led coalition deaths fell
to fewer than one per day for the first time since 2004, nine
American soldiers were killed in 48 hours.
Six American soldiers were killed on Wednesday by an explosion in a
booby-trapped house in Diyala province, and three others were
killed on Tuesday in Salahuddin province, two of the northern areas
where US forces say al Qaeda has regrouped.
Operation Phantom Phoenix has so far included a large-scale sweep
in Diyala by thousands of US and Iraqi troops, and smaller
operations across the north and Baghdad's outskirts.
The US military says al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants have been driven
out of most of the territory they once held in Iraq, especially the
west of the country and parts of Baghdad, and overall violence
declined dramatically in the second half of 2007.
But militants have regrouped in three provinces north of Baghdad
and in palm groves on the capital's southern outskirts.
They have stepped up so-called spectacular attacks - suicide
bombings which often kill large numbers of people - launching major
strikes nearly every day of the past two weeks mainly against
neighbourhood patrols paid by US forces.
The war has forced more than three million people to leave their
homes.
Some have started to return, but the International Organisation
for Migration said in a report that those who have gone home so far
represent only a "minute percentage".
"Despite decreased violence, slowing displacement rates and limited
returns in 2007, population displacement within and from Iraq
remains one of the largest and most serious humanitarian crises in
the world," the IOM report said.
The United Nations' World Health Organisation released figures on
Wednesday estimating about 151,000 Iraqi civilians had died
violently in Iraq in the war's first three years, with the exact
figure falling between 104,000 and 223,000.
The WHO figure, based on a survey of 10,000 Iraqi households, does
not include deaths after June 2006.
The 12 months that followed were the deadliest year of the war.