BAQOUBA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces expanded their efforts to secure Baqouba by surrounding one eastern portion of the city and beginning a deliberate, house-to-house search there for al-Qaida operatives July 17.
Elements of the 5th Iraqi Army Division, along with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, are searching the neighborhood known as “Old Baqouba,” during this next phase of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which began June 19.
“Today, the Iraqi Security Forces and Task Force Arrowhead began the liberation of eastern Baqouba,” said Col. Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. “We will drive al-Qaida out and bring security to the people and streets of Old Baqouba.”
In addition to combat operations, wide scale efforts to restore services and provide necessary goods to the people in Diyala have been underway in conjunction with Operation Arrowhead Ripper.
The Iraqi government, with Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces support, coordinated the delivery of 48 trucks of fuel to Khanaqin, Diyala province July 15 as part of efforts to bring necessary provisions to the people there.
The arrival of the trucks was the first step of larger plans to distribute the fuel throughout the province. The delivery, executed by civilian contractors, comprised 21 trucks of benzene, 18 trucks of diesel and nine trucks of kerosene.
Operation Arrowhead Ripper began when Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces closed off the western half of Baqouba to begin a systematic search for al-Qaida operatives there last month.
Coalition and Centcom reports indicate that since the beginning of operation Arrowhead Ripper, Iraqi and Coalition Forces have killed at least 63 anti-Iraqi forces, detained about 240 individuals suspected of having ties to terrorist groups, and disabled more than 146 improvised explosive devices, along with 24 booby-trapped structures. About 10,000 U.S. and Iraqi military personnel have taken part in the operation. The Diyala provincial government has delivered more than 340 tons of flour and rice, and provided other essential services such as medical care to the residents of western Baqouba.
Before the operation began in early June, residents of western Baqouba were afraid to leave their homes and walk down their own streets, press reports indicate that people are now walking the streets and visiting the re-opened markets - children are playing outside. Al-Qaeda it appears has lost their strangle hold on Diyala and Baqouba and area they had at oen time claimed as their "capital" in Iraq.
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