BAQUBA, Iraq - Air strikes have destroyed
homes rather than al-Qaeda targets under the US
military operation in Baquba, residents say. But
residents speak of relief that al-Qaeda has been
driven out of the city by US forces.
Fifty
kilometers northeast of Baghdad, the volatile
capital city of Diyala province is home to roughly
325,000 people. The region that has been home to
fruit orchards and rural farming has been
hit
hard by the military conflict.
On June 19,
tens of thousands of US soldiers were deployed in
Operation Arrowhead Ripper to attack militants in
Baquba. The ongoing operation is one of the
largest thus far in the US-led occupation of Iraq.
Diyala province is inhabited by a mix of
Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs, as well as Kurds. The
province has been openly hostile toward occupation
forces, and attacks against US forces have been
commonplace since early in the occupation.
According to the US Department of Defense,
Diyala province is the fifth-deadliest of Iraq's
18 provinces for US troops, with at least 186
killed there thus far.
After several weeks
of the siege in Baquba, people were allowed in
recent days to go to work. Witnesses spoke about
fierce attacks by helicopters, and shelling of
houses by US tanks.
"The US military
bombed houses that were completely uninhabited,"
said Kadhim Rajab, a 39-year-old city official.
"Al-Qaeda had left the city before the operation
even began because they knew what was coming even
before we did."
But residents did speak of
an al-Qaeda presence earlier. "US troops bombed a
number of houses that were actually used by
al-Qaeda," said Ibrahim Hameed, a 43-year-old
secondary-school teacher. "But there was no
resistance at all, we heard no shooting."
Ismail Aboud, a 51-year-old physician,
said the US military had deliberately avoided
armed clashes with militants. "It seems that the
forces allowed the terrorists to leave the
battlefield in order to avoid direct military
clashes," he said.
Abu Mohammed, a
54-year-old grocer, said US troops were now moving
unarmed in the streets. "The troops appear
absolutely sure that there is no resistance to
face."
Salma Waleed, manager of a primary
school in the city, said that after 12 days of
shelling by the US military, some electricity and
water supply has been restored intermittently.
Waleed said US soldiers had been handing
out water and MREs (meals ready to eat). "Now we
can move very freely in the streets, since there
is no random shooting or kidnapping."
Professor Salim Abdulla, from the local
university, said US soldiers claimed to have found
a room in a house where prisoners were tortured,
and also found barrels of chlorine. In recent
months chlorine bombs have been used to blow up
cars.
But Abdulla added, "What is
disastrous is that before the members of al-Qaeda
ran away from Qatoon [district of Baquba], they
killed prisoners who had been kidnapped for
getting money from their families as ransom."
Others spoke of the damaging effects of
the US military cordon around the city that was
denying basic needs such as medical care, food,
water and security.
An expatriate program
manager for an international organization, who did
not wish to be named, said, "The military
operations are still continuing and the roads are
still closed. One of my sources said that on
Friday in Qatoon quarter, a house was bombed and
an entire family was killed. Only a baby
survived."
The manager said tens of
thousands have fled the Qatoon area. "Because of
the closure [of roads and parts of the city] in
Baquba the price of food has increased
dramatically," she said. "Earlier 50 kilograms of
flour cost US$11. Now it is $40."
Only
bicycles and animal-drawn carts are being allowed
to bring basic supplies such as vegetables and
fuel into the city, she said. Mahdi Ameen
Azawi, a 47-year-old retired Iraqi military
officer who lives in Qatoon, said: "Recently,
Iraqi police and ambulances have started removing
the bodies.
"This quarter remained under
siege up to now," he said. "People suffered from
the absence of electricity, water and food."
Ahmed Ali, Inter Press Service's
correspondent in Iraq's Diyala province, works in
close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, IPS's
US-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels
extensively in the region.
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