By NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : Sectarian violence in Baghdad has dropped by 95 per cent last month while military operations against civilians and security forces declined by 75 per cent compared to last year, a US senior officer said.
Admiral Gregory Smith, director of the Multi-National Force’s (MNF) Communications Division, told a news conference Wednesday that there was an increasing number of women used as suicide bombers, noting that 19 women had committed suicide attacks since 2003.
Smith said suicide attacks dropped by 66 per cent and attacks by explosive devices decreased by 45 per cent since February 2007.
Although the number of civilians killed by terrorists has declined, said Smith, it was still a high number. He cited the killing of the Al-Qaeda leader in the southwest of Diyala who was identified as Abu Karrar, in addition to the capture of scores of terrorists.
Smith hoped that the Al-Mahdi army would sustain their ceasefire which he described as “positive.”
He said indirect dialogue with Muqtada Al-Sadr’s party was ongoing through the Iraqi government.
The Admiral talked about the progress the Iraqi and coalition forces have made on the ground, but said it was difficult to give a specific time for the transfer of security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces in all governorates.