U.S., Iraqi forces launch offensive at al-Qaeda

BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun a new military offensive in northern Iraq aimed at rooting out al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents, American and Iraqi officials said yesterday.

Operation New Hope has netted 84 suspects in the provincial capital of Mosul and surrounding towns, Iraqi Brig. Gen. Saeed Ahmed al-Jubouri said. Most of the arrests occurred in Tal Abta, about 50 miles west of Mosul.

Claims by Sunni Arabs and Kurds over disputed territory in the northern Nineveh province have fueled significant violence in the area around Mosul, which U.S. officials have called Iraq's last major urban battleground in the war against insurgents.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have staged many operations in Mosul and other areas north of Baghdad where levels of violence remained high even as they significantly dropped elsewhere in the country.

The offensive comes more than a year after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised a "decisive" battle in Mosul against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But Iraq's third-largest city has continued to face violence, particularly against Iraqi security forces.

A roadside bomb struck an Iraq army patrol yesterday in Mosul, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant, and wounding three others, said a police official at the Nineveh military command center. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.

Five other soldiers were killed and five wounded when they stormed a booby-trapped house in the city late Saturday, Jubouri said.

The aim of the joint operation is to allow the government to restore essential services in Mosul, the U.S. military said in a statement.

"The ultimate goal of this operation is to eradicate al-Qaeda and other extremist groups," the statement said.

Jubouri said U.S. troops were only providing support, if needed. Iraqi security forces are leading the operation, he said, and all police and army units in the province are participating.