The last pocket of al-Qaeda fighters is being pressured in areas of the Northern Province of Diyala. Iraqi and Coalition forces have purged al-Qaeda from around Baghdad, from Anbar Province, from the capital city of Diyala (Baquba), herding them towards the Northern Iraqi border with Iran. As we herd them we decimate their forces. Recent stories on our success in capturing and killing terrorists as we close in on them can be found here and here.

al-Qaeda promised a counter offensive of attacks in December and January, and there have been successful attacks on anti al-Qaeda Iraqis. But the fact is the attacks are NOT rising to the same levels as have been seen in recent months where the violence levels have been steadily dropping – as reported by Reuters.

A spate of recent attacks in Iraq’s volatile Diyala province indicate a change in tactics by al Qaeda rather than an upsurge in violence, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said on Saturday.

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At least 61 people have been killed and 90 wounded over the past week in five major bombing and shooting attacks in the province, which spans the Tigris and Diyala Rivers and spreads east to the Iranian border.

“As far as an upsurge in attacks, we have not seen that,” Major-General Mark Hertling, commander of forces in northern Iraq, told Reuters in an e-mail.

“What we have seen is some instances of different types of attacks,” he said, referring to the use of suicide vests and “desperate” attacks against neighborhood police units which the military calls “concerned local citizens.”

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“Additionally, because of reduced attacks in other areas, the attacks in Diyala province may appear to be more than what existed in the past,” Hertling said.

Since the ever expanding regions of Iraq now purged of al-Qaeda are seeing extensive drops in violence, it is not surprising that what appears to be increases in violence is simply an increase in reporting violence from the remaining areas dealing with al-Qaeda as they are pushed out of Iraq. There used to be hundreds of attacks per day in Iraq, but the news media could only run so many stories on them. As the number of attacks have fallen the SurrenderMedia’s production of doom & gloom stories has not been reduced, but the number of attacks and casualties those stories represent have fallen way off.

If December shows continued drop off in the indicators of violence, then we will know once and for all al-Qaeda is a spent force on its way to oblivion.