Al-Qaeda has been driven from "every neighborhood in Baghdad"

Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says

By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 8, 2007

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.

Go to Complete Coverage » Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, “there’s just no question” that violence had declined since a spike in June.

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General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis’ rejection of “the rule of the gun.”

His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.

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BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed two gunmen and arrested 65 others during the last 24 hours across Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb during a patrol south of Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded three Iraqi soldiers on patrol in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad, police said.

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* BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed 10 gunmen and arrested 59 others during the past 24 hours in different parts in Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

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* BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers killed three gunmen and arrested nine others during operations in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

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BAGHDAD - Four bodies were found shot in different areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed a woman teacher in a drive-by shooting in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, police said.

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