By Michael Georgy
Reuters, 30 March 2006
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has shifted tactics, focusing his suicide bombers on Iraqi forces and civilians instead of American troops, the chief U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday.
"What we are seeing him do now is shift his target from the coalition forces to Iraqi civilians and Iraqi security forces," Major General Rick Lynch told a news conference.
While monthly U.S. casualties have been falling since November, attacks on Iraqi forces are escalating as Zarqawi attempts to undermine efforts to build up the army and security forces, Lynch said.
"The number of attacks against Iraqi security force members has increased 35 percent in the last four weeks compared to the previous six months," said Lynch.
"That is by design. The enemy knows the Iraqi security forces are increasing in capability."
A U.S. troop pullout is contingent on the performance of Iraqi troops, who have watched suicide bombers kill thousands of their comrades.
A suicide bomber strapped with explosives killed 40 Iraqi army recruits at a base near the northern city of Mosul this week.
Islamic militants have also been carrying out bolder attacks at police stations.
Guerrillas attacked the police headquarters and courthouse in the Iraqi town of Miqdadiya this month, killing at least 18 people and releasing prisoners, police said.
Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for some of the most spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq, has kept a lower profile recently. His large-scale bombings have decreased.
Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said this week that Zarqawi was no longer a threat.
But military intelligence sources in Iraq say they have no reason to believe the Jordanian militant has weakened and he remains a recruiting magnet for young Sunni Arabs.
One said recently it appeared that international al Qaeda leaders may have prevailed on Zarqawi to limit attacks on Shi'ite civilians on the grounds this was counter-productive.
Lynch said the improved performance of Iraqi forces and their growing ability to carry out operations on their own had contributed to a fall in the number of daily attacks.
He noted that suicide bombings, the biggest killers in Iraq had dropped, as had the number of overall assaults.
"Last year, May to July, we averaged 50 suicide attacks per month. This year, January to March, it was 24 per month," he said.
Previous lulls in insurgent activity have been followed by a frenzy of attacks.
Lynch said al Qaeda was now focused on car bombs and roadside bombs to try to ignite a sectarian civil war while carrying out selective assassinations.
The bombing of a Shi'ite shrine last month which the United States blamed on al Qaeda triggered reprisals and pushed Iraq closer than ever to sectarian civil war.
Lynch said there had been 955 murders or execution-style killings in Baghdad alone since the shrine attack and 1,313 nationwide: "(In) January in Baghdad we averaged 11 murders or executions per day. They peaked at one point in time recently with an average of 36. We have reduced that back to 25."
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Citation: Michael Georgy. "Al Qaeda's Zarqawi Shifts Tactics: U.S. Military," Reuters, 30 March 2006.
Original URL: http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=11702655&pageNumber=1
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