Diyala province campaign

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Diyala province campaign
Part of the Post-invasion Iraq
Soldiers cover behind a Stryker vehicle during a firefight
Date December 25, 2006 - Location Diyala governorate, Iraq Result ongoing
Combatants
United States New Iraqi Army	Iraqi insurgents
Strength
4,200 (U.S. forces) 20,000 (Iraqi forces)	unknown
Casualties
35 killed (U.S. forces), 50 killed, 10 captured (Iraqi security forces)	155+ killed, few hundred captured

Iraq War
Invasion – Post-invasion (Insurgency – Civil War) Battles & operations – Bombings and terrorist attacks

The Diyala province campaign is a series of operations conducted by coalition forces against Iraqi insurgents and a number of bombing and guerrila attacks against the security forces in Diyala province of Iraq, with the purpose of control of the province.

Contents 1 Prelude 2 The Campaign 2.1 Baquba falls 2.2 Iraqi security forces under attack 2.3 Reinforcements arive 2.4 Attack on Qubah 2.5 Khalis massacre 3 References

[edit] Prelude

Shortly after the insurgent victory in Baghdad after Operation Together Forward insurgents began, little by little, moving their resources from Baghdad, now more than 50 percent under insurgent control, and Al Anbar provice, which is also almost compleatly under insurgent control, to the province of Diyala norteast of Baghdad. The first signs of increased insurgent activity in Diyala came after U.S. forces found an insurgent bunker complex near the village of Turki and fought a bloody battle. Also a few weeks later fighting between police and insurgents after an attack on Baqouba's police headquarters shuts down the city, closing the university, schools and most stores, and clearing the streets of everyone, except a few who scurry about to stock up on food. At least 55 militants are killed in clashes in the preceding days, according to anonymous police sources. During the fighting a mass grave with 28 bodies was discovered. After that U.S. and Iraqi forces begin raids in the city who ultimately are futile. The morgue in the city reports by the beginning of December 2006 that it had received 102 bodies in the previous two weeks. After the announcement of a new attempt by the U.S. and Iraqi security forces to take back the streets of Baghdad the insurgents started to speed up their move and it is believed that the reason behind the little resistance found by the security forces in Baghdad during Operation Law and Order is that most of the insurgents have moved to Diyala.

[edit] The Campaign

[edit] Baquba falls

On Christmas Day it was reported that the capital of the province, Baquba, had fallen under insurgent control. An Iraqi news cameraman went to the city and reported seaing hundreds of gunman with AK-47's in cars and pickups parading through the city. There was no sign of the security forces except for the bodies of a few executed by the insurgents.^[1][2] After that there were increased insurgent attacks on the U.S. and Iraqi forces around Baquba and in the rest of the province.

Mid-January U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted a series of raids that resulted in 93 insurgents killed and 57 captured.^[3] Despited this however the insurgents had some succeses early in the campaign, mainly, when they shot down a Black Hawk helicopter on January 20 killing twelve U.S. soldiers. The helicopter was carrying mostly officers from the U.S. National Guard. The dead inluded a colonel who was the top American military doctor in Iraq.

In January 2007, it was reported^[4] that Sunni insurgents were able to kidnap the mayor of Baquba and blow up his office, despite promises from American and Iraqi military officials that the situation in the city was "reassuring and under control". The city at its peak had over 300,000 residents, but a February 2007 report labeled the city a "ghost town" as most residents had fled.

[edit] Iraqi security forces under attack

At the beginning of March insurgents in two separate incidents captured 32 members of the Iraqi security forces. The bodies of 14 captured policemen were found shortly after and the 18 othere soldiers and policemen were shown on television to be executed. Suicide bombers continued to attack in Diyala targeting not only military but civilian targets as well which is shown when a suicide bomber attacked a caffe in Balad Ruz on March 7 killing 30 people. The capture of policemen continued later on with another 10 policemen captured and 1 killed when insurgents overrun a police station in the town of Hibhib.^[5]

On March 23, the province director of civil defense, Colonel Ahmed Kadhim Jawad, was killed in Khalis.^[6]

[edit] Reinforcements arive

On March 13, 700 men from the Army's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, which includes Stryker armored vehicles, were sent from Baghdad to Diyala as reinforcements to the 3,500 U.S. and 20,000 Iraqi soldiers already in the province.^[7] The next day, as the first bach of the reinforcements was moving close to the outskirts of Baquba, the Stryker convoy was hit by machine-gun, RPG and mortar fire. In the ensuing chaos one American soldier was killed, 12 were wounded and two Stryker armored vehicles were destroyed.^[8] The same day, in two other separate incidents, two more American soldiers were killed in the province.^[9]

[edit] Attack on Qubah

On March 24, the U.S. military started operations to retake the Baqubah River valley, a string of farming hamlets nestled among dense palm groves. They started with attacking the insurgent-dominated village of Qubah. Up to 13 Chinooks, Blackhawks and Apache gunships lifted off from Forward Operating Base Warhorse. The helicopters barely touched the ground at the edge of Qubah long enough for 241 soldiers to leap out and heavy street fighting ensued as artillery fire provided cover firing into the surrounding palm groves. At the same time, a convoy of 19 Humvees, two Bradley tanks and several other vehicles rumbled toward Qubah from the opposite end. The U.S.troops encountered several machine gun nests in the town. One U.S. soldier took a burst of fire in the chest at virtually point-blank range that knocked him on his back. But his body armor saved him from serious injury, and a moment later he was up after emptying his own weapon into the gunmen while on his back. The Apaches circled the battle, occasionally strafing insurgent positions with cannons and sending Hellfire missiles whooshing into buildings soldiers were attacking from the ground. By sunset 16 insurgents were killed and 3 American soldiers were wounded in the initial clashes. But more fighting happened as the convoy tried to return to base. They were hit two times by roadside bombs. The Apaches identified the trigermen and killed up to 12 more insurgents. In one bomb blast 4 American soldiers were killed and 2 were wounded. By the close of the operation on March 24 only the town of Zaganiya was left as the last insurgent stronghold in the Baquba river valley.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Khalis massacre

On March 29, three suicide bombers in a coordinated attack on the mostly Shia town of Khalis killed 53 people and wounded 103. This coincided with a double suicide bombing in Baghdad on the Shaab area marketplace that killed 82 people, including many women and children, and wounded 138 others.

[edit] References