Embedded with US troops: our correspondent reports from Diyala

Thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by small US military teams, launched a dawn offensive today across one of Iraq’s most dangerous provinces in the latest attempt to defeat resilient pockets of al-Qaeda fighters.

Gangs of Shia insurgents are also a target of the Diyala operation, which was pre-empted by joint US-Iraqi pushes through lawless terrain to the southeast of the province that began last Friday.

Diyala, an ethnically diverse region of Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds and Christians, is regarded as one of al-Qaeda’s remaining strongholds in Iraq after the group was pushed out of Baghdad and the capital’s southern belts. Militants have also been squeezed by operations in the northern city of Mosul.

Major-General Mohammad al-Askari, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, said that today’s mission began with raids in the provincial capital of Baquba. Al-Qaeda in Iraq once named the city the capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate, while Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the group’s founder, was killed nearby in a US airstrike two years ago.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, “is paying attention to the operation in Diyala because it is a very important province and the citizens there have suffered for a long time,” Major-General Askari told Iraqi state television.

New checkpoints have been erected across the province as part of the assault, which involves about two Iraqi Army divisions as well as a large police contingent. Some residents said they were afraid to leave their houses.

Away from the military push, the Government also announced a 100 million dollar package (£50 million) to help with reconstruction projects.

Female suicide bombings, a weapon increasingly associated with al-Qaeda, have been a particular problem in Diyala. A majority of such attacks in Iraq this year took place in the largely rural province that sits north of Baghdad and stretches along the Iranian border.

At least 27 people have been killed by women bombers in Baquba this month alone. Four women also blew themselves up in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk yesterday, killing almost 60 people and injuring hundreds more.

Major-General Abdul-Kareem al-Rubaie, commander of Diyala security operations, said: "The aim is to completely cleanse Diyala province. The Iraqi army will be executing this operation."

The push follows similar offenses in other trouble spots across Iraq, including the southern port-city of Basra and the northern city of Mosul, as Mr Maliki attempts to reign in Shia militias and Sunni insurgents.

The US military said that the main Diyala push was an Iraqi-led affair. “We applaud the Iraqis' growing ability to lead, plan and execute complex combat, policy and humanitarian operations and we look forward to reducing our support footprint as security conditions on the ground permit,” it said.

Meanwhile, a major Shia pilgrimage in Baghdad was proceeding peacefully today, barely 24 hours after three female suicide bombers brought death and devastation to the capital by detonating explosive vests amongst the crowds.

Black-clad pilgrims streamed towards the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim in the northern neighborhoud of Kadimiyah where police threw a tight security ring, setting up checkpoints and searching the visitors.

No vehicles are allowed on the roads today as part of a series of security measures to prevent further carnage.

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