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Forces move to Mosul to drive out al-Qaeda

Shaken by two days of deadly bombings, the government said it would dispatch several thousand more security forces to Mosul in a "decisive" bid to drive al-Qaeda in Iraq from its last major stronghold.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave no details on Friday on troop strength or when the additional police and soldiers would arrive in Iraq's main northern city. But it added to growing signs that Mosul could represent a pivotal showdown with insurgents chased north by US-led offensives.

"Today, our troops started moving toward Mosul ... and the fight there will be decisive," al-Maliki said during a speech in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

The challenge, however, is whether the Iraqi forces have the firepower and training to lead an offensive into Iraq's third-largest city. The US military is relatively thin across northern Iraq and has signaled no immediate plans to shift troops from key zones in and around Baghdad.

Mosul is now considered the main logistical hub for al-Qaeda in Iraq because of its size and location -- sitting at crossroads between Baghdad, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Many extremists fled north as US-led forces began gaining ground in former insurgent strongholds last year, aided by Sunni tribes that rose up against al-Qaeda and its backers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that 3,000 police were being sent to the Mosul region to augment the understaffed force.

Ninevah Province, whose capital is Mosul, has about 18,000 policemen. But only about 3,000 of those operate in the city of nearly 2 million, according to police spokesman Saeed al-Jubouri.

A Defense Ministry official said several thousand Iraqi soldiers would be moved from Baghdad and Anbar Province. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is sensitive.

"We have asked the prime minister to send us fresh units because we cannot defeat the terrorists with the weak units we have now in the city," Major General Riyad Jalal, a senior Iraqi officer in the Mosul area. "We need new equipment and stronger weapons because most of our security members have only rifles."

Mosul, 360km northwest of Baghdad, has become a fulcrum on two fronts.

First the US is trying to keep Iraqi security forces in the lead as a major test of Washington's long-range plans, which seek to keep a smaller US force in Iraq as backup for local soldiers and police.

Second, US officials say Mosul has become the only remaining major city in Iraq where al-Qaeda is able to operate with any freedom. Major centers of al-Qaeda activity in the past -- including the western Anbar Province, Baghdad and Baqubah north of the capital -- no longer offer easy refuge.

Al-Maliki announced reinforcements for Mosul two days after an abandoned apartment building, believed to be used as a bomb-making factory, was blown apart as the Iraqi army was investigating tips about a weapons cache.
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