Iraqi military officials say Zarqawi near Baghdad

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO240854.htm

Iraqi military officials say Zarqawi near Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Iraqi military officials said on Sunday they had intelligence indicating that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant leader behind some of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq, is in Diyala province near Baghdad.

It is not the first time Iraqi officials have said they have closed in on the elusive Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.He is the most wanted man in Iraq, with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head.

Army posts have been notified of Zarqawi's presence in Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, where there has been a surge in violence in the past few months, the officials said. It was not known exactly where in the province he was, one official said.

Iraqi officials have said several times that security forces had just missed Zarqawi or were closing in on him. At one point he was rumoured to be suffering from serious wounds in a hospital in the western town of Ramadi.

[bahrbearian]

1. Some where North , East, South ,or West of Baghdad ?

[pinniped]

2. East, of course.

They got him narrowed down to somewhere east of the Prime Meridian.

More specifically, I think he's between 30 and 60 degrees.

I'll take my 1/12th share of the 25,000,000.00 USD reward now.

[saigon68]

3. lol

These "predictors" are ass-clowns

[jimshoes]

4. Aha...

Another chance blow a bunch of shit up and just miss him.

[TheGunslinger]

5. AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

[54anickel]

6. Diyala? Oh, and things were reportedly going so well there last summer.

Operation Whack-a-Mole continues.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0830/p01s04-woiq.html

snip>

US troops recently closed down one of their forward operating bases near here, "since the area was so calm," Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier, a US battalion commander, says.

The breadbasket borders the notorious "Sunni triangle," the mainly Sunni Arab swath of north-central Iraq where the insurgency started in 2003, and where it has proven most enduring ever since.

Yet Diyala province could be among the first areas handed over to full Iraqi security control. Planned reductions of US-led coalition forces, which numbered 161,500 in July, might begin as early as next year - depending on political conditions, as well as the readiness of Iraqi military units, US commanders say.

About 79,900 Iraqi Army soldiers and national guardsmen have been counted as being "operational" in August, according to the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index. The stated US goal is to train another 18,639 troops.

"In the Sunni triangle, Diyala is well ahead of the others," according to Col. Steven Salazar, US brigade commander for northeastern Iraq.

Iraqi troops still rely heavily on US support, from planning raids, to stand-by air support in case things turn bad, to detainee processing. But the Iraqi 2/2 Battalion is ready for its training wheels to come off, most US liaison officers say.

more...

[uppityperson]

7. So is Elvis. nt