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Decimating Al Qaeda’s Leadership
Since the surge began, Coalition forces have been capturing and killing Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders at an astonishing rate. The graphic above shows how productive we were in the month of July alone.
Bill Roggio at The Fourth Rail has the latest:
During Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner’s briefing from Baghdad today, he noted that Iraqi and Coalition forces “continue to achieve tactical momentum against al Qaeda in Iraq.” The month of July resulted in the 17 senior al Qaeda captured or killed, including six regional emirs, seven foreign terrorist or weapons facilitators, three cell leaders, and two leaders of media and propaganda networks, including Khalid Mashadani, the Media Emir for al Qaeda in Iraq. Mashadani helped found the Islamic State of Iraq and admitted its leader, Abu Omar al Baghdadi, is a creation of Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq’s leader.
Brig. Gen. Bergner also stated several hundred lower-level al Qaeda operatives were captured in July, and noted that al Qaeda’s leadership in Mosul has been decimated.
Iraqi and Coalition forces are maintaining the pressure on al Qaeda’s network nationwide. Coalition forces killed 11 al Qaeda operatives and captured four more in raids in Tikrit, Baghdad, and Miqdadiyah. Iraqi Army Scouts captured three al Qaeda cell leaders in the Mansour district in Baghdad.