U.S. launches largest Iraq air assault in 3 years

[Soldier4Christ]

50 aircraft, 1,500 soldiers attack targets north of Baghdad


BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said on Thursday it had launched its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion of the country.

A military statement said the operation involving more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and U.S. troops as well as 200 tactical vehicles targeted suspected insurgents operating in Salahuddin, a province that includes Samarra, a town located 60 miles north of Baghdad.

“Initial reports from the objective area indicate that a number of enemy weapons caches have been captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-making materials, and military uniforms,” the military said in a statement. IEDs are improvised explosive devices.

The military said the operation began Thursday morning and was likely to continue for several days.

Waqas al-Juwanya, a spokesman for Iraq’s joint coordination center in nearby Dowr, said “unknown gunmen exist in this area, killing and kidnapping policemen, soldiers and civilians.”

The province is a major part of the so-called Sunni triangle where insurgents have been active since shortly after the U.S.-led invasion three years ago. Saddam Hussein was captured in the province, not far from its capital, Tikrit.

Samarra was the site of a bombing attack last month on a Shiite shrine that set off sectarian reprisals and pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.