US bombers, jets unleash 40,000 pounds of bombs in 10 minutes south of Baghdad

Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:06pm EST

By Peter Graff

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes launched their biggest air strike in Iraq since at least 2006 on Thursday, bombarding date palm groves on Baghdad's southern outskirts with more than 40,000 pounds of bombs in a matter of minutes.

Two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets struck more than 40 al Qaeda targets in three zones of Arab Jabour, a lush district just south of the capital that has become a haven for fighters driven out of other areas.

"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds," the military said in a statement. "Each bomber passed over twice and the F-16s followed to complete the set."

The attack formed part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a major countrywide offensive against al Qaeda guerrillas that U.S. forces announced this week.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said if U.S. forces were able to oust the militants from their current enclaves, there were not many other places they could go. But he warned that U.S. troops still faced a difficult mission.

"There will continue to be tough days and tough weeks. We are not done yet, by any means," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference with Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim.

U.S. forces spokesman Maj. Winfield Danielson said Thursday's air strike was the biggest in Iraq since at least 2006. A spokeswoman for U.S. forces in central Iraq, Maj. Allayne Conway, said it was too soon to assess the damage inflicted.

"We certainly have our opponents on the ropes and we're going to go after him while he is on the ropes," said Lt.-Col. Robert Wilson, deputy commander of the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, in a statement.

Massive U.S. air strikes pound insurgent havens south of Baghdad
2 hours, 35 minutes ago

By Hamza Hendawi, The Associated Press


ZAMBARANIYAH, Iraq - U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense air strikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping more than 18,000 kilograms of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected "al-Qaida in Iraq" safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.

The mighty barrage, recalling the Pentagon's "shock and awe" raids during the 2003 invasion, appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week to try to cripple remaining insurgent strongholds.

But it also fits into the endgame strategy of last year's U.S. troop buildup, which seeks to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas as a buffer zone for the capital. U.S. commanders are now attempting to subdue the last insurgent footholds around Baghdad before the Pentagon faces a possible reduction in troop strength.

Some of the additional 30,000 troops have been pulled out and the remainder are expected to depart by June, military officials have told The Associated Press. With insurgents still holding pockets south of the capital in the north - including areas around the key northern city of Mosul - the military apparently wants to take the remaining four months or so to use the expanded military muscle against al-Qaida.
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Maj. Alayne Conway, a spokeswoman for troops in central Iraq, said the amount of ordnance dropped in 10 minutes nearly exceeded what had been used in that region in any month since last June.

Conway said the air attack "was one of the largest air strikes since the onset of the war" in March 2003.

A military statement said two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighters hit 40 targets in Arab Jabour in 10 strikes. Al-Qaida fighters are believed to control Arab Jabour, a Sunni district lined with citrus groves.

"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds" the statement said. That tonnage would equal just over 18,000 kilograms.

Officials: Troop Surge in Iraq to Begin This Month
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON — President Bush will tell the nation Wednesday night that a gradual "surge of 20,000 U.S. troops" to Iraq will begin later this month, and that the administration expects the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to seize control of all 18 provinces by November, senior U.S. officials confirmed to FOX News.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,242614,00.html

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2007/0605bombardment.htm
US Doubles Air Attacks in Iraq
By Charles J. Hanley
Associated Press
June 5, 2007.
Four years into the war that opened with "shock and awe," U.S. warplanes have again stepped up attacks in Iraq, dropping bombs at more than twice the rate of a year ago. The airpower escalation parallels a nearly four-month-old security crackdown that is bringing 30,000 additional U.S. troops into Baghdad and its surroundings - an urban campaign aimed at restoring order to an area riven with sectarian violence. It also reflects increased availability of planes from U.S. aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. And it appears to be accompanied by a rise in Iraqi civilian casualties.
In the first 4 1/2 months of 2007, American aircraft dropped 237 bombs and missiles in support of
ground forces in Iraq, already surpassing the 229 expended in all of 2006, according to U.S. Air Force figures obtained by The Associated Press.
"Air operations over Iraq have ratcheted up significantly, in the number of sorties, the number of
hours (in the air)," said Col. Joe Guastella, Air Force operations chief for the region. "It has a lot to do with increased pressure on the enemy by MNC-I" - the Multinational Corps-Iraq - "combined with more carriers."
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Examples of attacks, as reported in the Air Force's daily summary:
-Last Friday, an Air Force F-16 fighter dropped a guided 500-pound bomb near the northern city of Tal Afar that destroyed a vehicle laden with explosives to be used as a bomb.
-The day before, an F-16 dropped a similar bomb on "an inaccessible building being used by insurgents" near Samarra, north of Baghdad, with "good effects."
-Last Wednesday, another F-16 dropped bombs on "an illegal bridge and an insurgent vehicle in Baghdad."

Police and other Iraqi sources sometimes report civilian casualties in such airstrikes that are not
reflected in the official U.S. accounts. Air Force Col. Gary Crowder, deputy director of the regional air operations center, said such casualties "pale in comparison" with civilian casualties from ground combat. "In Iraq, we minimize our deployment of air-delivered weapons in populated areas," he said. Crowder, Guastella and Cox were interviewed outside Iraq at the regional U.S. air headquarters.
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Air attacks in Iraq are still relatively low compared with the numbers of weapons dropped in
Afghanistan - 929 this year as of May 15.