US expects stepped-up attacks by militants in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- US military leaders said yesterday that they expected Al Qaeda in Iraq to "lash out" soon in response to the continuing American troop surge with "spectacular attacks" designed to aggravate sectarian tensions.

Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said Al Qaeda in Iraq is the principal threat to US and Iraqi security forces and "the main accelerant in sectarian violence " despite the group's small size and mostly foreign membership.

The US military is concentrating on a series of offensives to root out Al Qaeda in Iraq from strongholds in Baghdad and a surrounding belt of cities such as Baqubah, 30 miles northeast of the capital.

But Bergner said US troops were also staging simultaneous operations in Mosul to the north and Ramadi to the west to prevent displaced Al Qaeda in Iraq fighters from resurfacing.

US forces killed or captured 26 Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders during the last two months, he said.

Bergner said US forces were better able to attack Al Qaeda in Iraq because of an additional 28,500 troops ordered into the country this year by President Bush.

New alliances with local groups such as the Anbar Salvation Council and added support from ordinary Iraqi citizens also helped the military's efforts.

The US military received 23,000 tips so far this year from Iraqis, about five times the number received by this time last year and military efforts against the Al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership have begun to disrupt networks and safe havens, Bergner said.

" Bergner said Al Qaeda sent 60 to 80 foreign fighters into Iraq recently with the majority entering through Syria. Those foreign fighters, Bergner said, were enlisted by Al Qaeda in Iraq for 80 percent to 90 percent of suicide bombings in Iraq .

In one instance yesterday , Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdul Kareem Khalaf said, police detained an Iraqi driver attempting to cross the Syrian border in a Mercedes-Benz sedan loaded with 200 suicide bomb vests .

Bergner noted that senior Al Qaeda leadership provides direction and a support network for Al Qaeda in Iraq, as a recent video released by Al Qaeda shows the group's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, pleading for more foreign fighters in Iraq.

"Al Qaeda senior leadership does provide direction to Al Qaeda in Iraq. They do establish focus, they do establish and provide resources and support the network," Bergner said.

"Their numbers are relatively small, but their effect is very, very devastating to the Iraqi people because they are employed frequently as these suicide bombers."

This latest accusation of the connection between the strife in Iraq and Sept. 11 comes as domestic American support for the war is waning and a preliminary progress report to Congress by US military leaders is due this week.

In the report, Army General David H. Petraeus is expected to focus on troops' success in turning local Iraqi leaders against Al Qaeda in Iraq and to downplay worsening sectarian tensions in Baghdad and the spread of Shi'ite militias outside the capital .

Also in Baghdad yesterday , a car bomb targeting a US military patrol exploded in the central Karada neighborhood, killing one and injuring two.