BAGHDAD—U.S. warplanes launched their biggest air strike in Iraq since at least 2006 on Thursday, bombarding date palm groves on Baghdad's southern outskirts with more than 40,000 pounds of bombs in a matter of minutes.
Two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets struck more than 40 al Qaeda targets in three zones of Arab Jabour, a lush district just south of the capital that has become a haven for fighters driven out of other areas.
The attack formed part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a major countrywide offensive against al Qaeda guerrillas that U.S. forces announced this week.
"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds," the military said in a statement. "Each bomber passed over twice and the F-16s followed to complete the set."
U.S. forces spokesman Major Winfield Danielson said it was the biggest air strike in Iraq since at least 2006.
A spokeswoman for U.S. forces in central Iraq, Major Allayne Conway, said it was too soon to say how many people had been killed in the airstrikes, but a damage assessment was under way.
"We certainly have our opponents on the ropes and we're going to go after him while he is on the ropes," said Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Wilson, deputy commander of the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in a statement.
Large-scale air strikes have been rare in Iraq, especially over the past few months when the intensity of military action tapered off as overall violence declined and U.S. commanders emphasised "hearts and minds" engagement with civilians.
But the operation launched this week shows a new determination by U.S. forces to use traditional combat power against a stubborn al Qaeda enemy that has not lost its ability to launch attacks despite being driven from most areas.
Toll on U.S. Soldiers
The offensive has taken its toll on American forces as well. After a month in which the rate of U.S.-led coalition deaths fell to fewer than one per day for the first time since 2004, nine American soldiers were killed in 48 hours.
Six American soldiers were killed on Wednesday by an explosion in a booby-trapped house in Diyala province, and three others were killed on Tuesday in Salahuddin province, two of the northern areas where U.S. forces say al Qaeda has regrouped.
Operation Phantom Phoenix has so far included a large-scale sweep in Diyala by thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops, and smaller operations across the north and Baghdad's outskirts.
Al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants have been driven out of most of the territory they once held in Iraq, especially the west of the country and parts of Baghdad, and overall violence declined dramatically in the second half of 2007.
But the militants have remained a stubborn presence in three provinces north of Baghdad and in the palm groves on the capital's southern outskirts.
They have still proven able to carry out strikes, especially so-called "spectacular" attacks -- suicide bombings which often kill large numbers of people.
A wave of suicide bombings has seen major attacks most days over the past two weeks. Those strikes have mainly targeted patrol volunteers paid by U.S. forces to guard neighbourhoods against al Qaeda.
The United Nations' World Health Organisation released figures on Wednesday estimating that about 151,000 Iraqi civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first three years of the war, with the exact figure falling somewhere between 104,000 and 223,000.
The Iraqi Health Ministry backed the methodology and said the figures were probably the most accurate available.
The WHO figure, based on a survey of 10,000 Iraqis, does not include deaths after June 2006. Iraqi government figures show that the second half of 2006 and first half of 2007 was the deadliest year of the war.
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