Iraq PM says more troops for volatile Diyala

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

Iraq PM says more troops for volatile Diyala
By Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD, May 13 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday he would send more troops to volatile Diyala province in a bid to halt sectarian fighting that has forced out hundreds of families in the past five days.

Maliki did not say how many extra Iraqi security forces would follow 3,000 U.S. troops already sent to the religiously mixed province northeast of Baghdad during the past six weeks.

"In the next few days we will increase the number of troops in the Iraqi Army ... and the police on a significant level," he told reporters.

The Iraqi Red Crescent said 768 Shi'ite families have left villages near the town of Khalis in Diyala after militants swept through and forced them out.

"The people of Diyala are going through a humanitarian tragedy. Whole families were forced to leave the Ambugiya villages (around Khalis) and resettled in Baghdad, taking only the clothes they were wearing," said Red Crescent spokeswoman Wafaa Mahmoud.

Read more: http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KHA331728.htm

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. And a US general requested troops too

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