Some 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and police are to launch a military assault against al-Qaeda fighters and insurgents in Diyala Province from Aug. 1, army and police officers said yesterday.
“The operation is aimed at cleansing the region of insurgents, al-Qaeda and militias who are still there,” a senior Iraqi military officer said on condition of anonymity.
He said some 30,000 soldiers and policemen from across Iraq would take part in the crackdown starting Aug. 1.
Senior Iraqi police officials in Baqubah, the capital of Diyala, confirmed that starting date.
“It will be an operation led by the Iraqi army. The US Army will probably only watch ... If they need help, we’ll help them. If not, we will not do anything,” a US military officer said.
Iraq’s interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf announced on July 13 that the Iraqi military would launch an assault in Diyala but did not specify the date.
He said troops expected tough fighting during the assault.
Diyala and its capital Baqubah are Iraq’s most dangerous regions with insurgents regularly carrying out attacks, including by female suicide bombers.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s parliament on Tuesday pushed through a law meant to pave the way for US-backed provincial elections that will redistribute regional power. But the measure was clouded by a Kurdish boycott and critics warned the vote was unlikely to be held this year.
It still needs to be approved by the three-member presidential council, which is led by Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, adding significance to the Kurdish objections.
The Kurds, along with the two deputy parliamentary speakers, walked out of the chamber after lawmakers decided to hold a secret ballot on a power-sharing item in the law for the disputed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Opposition to a proposed equal distribution of provincial council seats among Kurds, Turkomen and Arabs in the Kirkuk region — which is outside the Kurdish territory but considered by many Kurds to be part of their historical land — has been a major factor in stalling passage of the law.
It was the latest setback to efforts to hold provincial elections.
A preliminary elections law passed earlier this year was touted as a sign that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government was making progress on the political front in addition to security gains. But the Iraqis have been deadlocked over a law setting guidelines and allocating funding for the vote, which had been due to begin on Oct. 1.
The elections will choose governing councils in Iraq’s 18 provinces and are seen as a key step in repairing the country’s sectarian rifts.
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