In the west and central regions of Iraq, heart of the supposed "Sunni insurgency", US forces are equipping and training former Sunni insurgents to fight al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in a bid to turn local and tribal groups against the presence of "foreign" Islamists. [First pioneered in Anbar province, the "Anbar model" is now being replicated in other Sunni areas, including the Amiriya district of Baghdad.] [NYT [2], June 11]
A suicide car bomb in [Mahmudiyya, part of the so-called] "triangle of death" [Sunni stronhold south of Baghdad] killed three US soldiers, as other bombs killed dozens of Iraqi policemen [June 10]. [Reuters [3], June 11]
From Madird11.net Security Briefs [4], June 11
See our last posts on Iraq [5], al-Qaeda [6] and the Sunni civil war [7].
