Iraq update August 16, 2007

The mass casualty suicide attack carried out by Al Qaeda in northern Iraq is covered well by Pat Dollard (no surprise there) in his post Al Qaeda's S.O.S to Congress.

• August 16, 2007 — TWO days ago, al Qaeda det onated four massive truck bombs in three Iraqi vil lages, killing at least 250 civilians (perhaps as many as 500) and wounding many more. The bombings were a sign of al Qaeda’s frustration, desperation and fear.

The Baqouba Guardians standing up again. From MNF-I a press release called Baqouba Guardians with IP repel al-Qaeda attack

• BAQOUBA, Iraq – In an unprecedented combined action in Diyala Province, Iraqi police and citizen volunteers defeated a coordinated attack of approximately 40-60 al-Qaeda terrorists in the southern Burhitz area of Baqouba, Wednesday, and killed an estimated 21 insurgents, wounding more.

And, also from MNF-I a release called Military official discusses progress in Iraq.

• BAGHDAD — A military official discussed current events in Iraq at the Combined Press InformationCenter Wednesday.

  U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman, gave a situational update for the Iraq theatre.

Bill Roggio has the latest on .operation Phantom Strike and Lighting Hammer It's complete with another handy map, this time with locations of where senior leaders of Al Qaeda have been killed in the month of July

• Operation Lightning Hammer, the follow-on operation to Arrowhead Ripper, has been underway since August 13. The operation is targeting specific al Qaeda strongholds in the Diyala River Valley north and east of Baghdad. About 10,000 US troops, including "special operational elements from the Army, Marines and Air Force," and 6,000 Iraqi security forces are involved in the operation. Over 200 al Qaeda fighters are estimated to be in the target areas.