The US military said on Friday it had renewed its air blitz on Al-Qaeda targets south of Baghdad, dropping bombs on sites it said were training camps for the jihadist network. The air strikes were part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a major assault launched on January 8 by US and Iraqi forces on Al-Qaeda, considered by US commanders to be the greatest threat to stability in Iraq.A military statement said that on Wednesday 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilos) of munitions were dropped on bunkers in Arab Jabour, a Sunni rural area on the southern outskirts of the capital, reportedly used by Al-Qaeda to train recruits. "Air Force B-1 Bombers dropped 19 GBU-31s (guided bomb units) on the site," it said in Friday's statement.
Last week American warplanes dropped 47,500 pounds of explosives in a 10-minute blitz on Arab Jabour in one of the heaviest aerial bombardments since the US-led invasion in 2003.
US commanders said 47 targets were hit in that raid, while an anti-Qaeda "Awakening" leader in Arab Jabour said that at least 21 Al-Qaeda fighters were killed. The US military did not mention casualties in its latest statement.
When Phantom Phoenix was launched, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the US second-in-command in Iraq, said the operation aimed to "pursue and neutralise remaining Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other extremist elements."