US commander asks for more troops in Iraq's Diyala
Source: Reuters
By Kristin Roberts WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. commander said on Friday he needs more troops in Diyala to secure that volatile province, which has seen a spike in violence as a crackdown in Baghdad drives insurgents out of the capital. "I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala province to get that security situation moving," said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of forces in areas north of Baghdad. He said he requested additional troops from Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander for day-to-day operations throughout Iraq, and expected those forces to be sent to Diyala "as they become available." Mixon would not say exactly how many troops he needs. Diyala, a large, ethnically mixed region northeast of Baghdad has seen some of the worst violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Sectarian killings and attacks by al Qaeda occur regularly and raise fears of full-scale civil war. A security crackdown in Baghdad has increased violence in Diyala, as both Sunni and Shi'ite extremists move out of the capital into other areas of Iraq, Mixon said. But he said his need for additional U.S. troops was unrelated to the migration of insurgents out of Baghdad amid the so-called surge of U.S. forces. "The level of violence began to increase before the surge," he said. "It has increased of course during the surge, but to try to put a specific measurement on that, the best I can tell you is we are sure there are elements of both Sunni extremists and Shia extremists that have moved out of Baghdad and relocated into not only Diyala province, but also into Salah ad Din province." The Pentagon is sending another 30,000 U.S. troops into Iraq, primarily Baghdad, in an effort to establish a base level of security that will allow the Iraqi government to make political progress that Washington believes is necessary for Iraq's long-term stability. The United States has about 146,000 troops in Iraq. When all additional forces are in place, troop levels will reach about 160,000. Mixon said he has about 3,500 U.S. soldiers in Diyala.
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