The American airstrike this morning against suspected al-Qaeda havens south of Baghdad was fast, powerful and loud.

In the space of only ten minutes, six aircraft dropped 38 bombs containing 40,000lbs of explosives on three large target areas across Arab Jabour, a rural area of palm groves and fields.

The rare show of aerial strength was part of a nationwide operation launched two days ago to crush remaining insurgency strongholds. Dubbed Operation Phantom Phoenix, the mission is largely concentrated on the restive province of Diyala, north of Baghdad, where thousands of US and Iraqi troops have been dispatched.

The offensive has already left nine American soldiers dead. Six servicemen were killed and four wounded when a booby-trapped house exploded in Diyala yesterday, while three troops died and two were injured in an attack on Tuesday in Salahuddin province.

The US military believes that a surge of 30,000 extra American troops into Baghdad and the surrounding areas last year pushed al-Qaeda fighters to Diyala and further north to Mosul. In addition, Arab Jabour is seen as a favoured hiding ground from where to plot attacks.

In the carefully planned air raid this morning, two B-1 Bombers and four F-16 fighter jets hit more than 40 targets, the military said in a statement. “Each bomber made two passes and the F-16s followed to complete the set,” it said.

American and Iraqi soldiers were also on the ground as part of the mission. There was no immediate word on what was destroyed in the "reported al-Qaeda safe havens" and whether anyone had been killed. A damage assessment is under way.

Violence across Iraq has dropped by 60 per cent since the summer, according to US military figures, but a spike in suicide bombings over the past fortnight demonstrates that insurgent groups still have the ability to conduct deadly operations.

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