Local support key in Iraq

Most of the major tribes in a strategic province north of Baghdad have signed agreements to support U.S. and Iraqi forces and oppose al-Qaida and other extremist groups, the U.S. military says.

The news comes as Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday that car bombings and suicide attacks in Baghdad are at the lowest level in a year.

U.S. policy in Iraq has shifted toward promoting local security agreements, such as those in Diyala province, in part because the Iraqi central government has failed to create a broad consensus government.

If the agreements in Diyala hold, the development could be more significant than the shift in Anbar province, a largely Sunni region west of the capital. Bush and the Pentagon have touted the Anbar agreements as a major sign of progress.

In Diyala, tribal leaders representing 20 of the province’s 25 major tribes have signed agreements brokered by the provisional government, said Col. David Sutherland, a brigade commander there. Most of the tribal leaders have signed on in the past several months.

Diyala is strategically important because of its location – between Baghdad and the Iranian border – and its significance to al-Qaida. The U.S. military has accused Iran of providing Shiite militias in Iraq with sophisticated, armor-piercing roadside bombs.

Since being pushed from Anbar, al-Qaida declared its intention to establish a caliphate, or Islamic rule, in Diyala, said Maj. Gen Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multi-National Division North, which includes Diyala.

The province is among the top three in terms of enemy activity, according to the Pentagon’s quarterly report to Congress released Monday.

Unlike Anbar, which is predominantly Sunni, Diyala is a mixed province, with a population of 1.6 million. Most of the Diyala groups that signed agreements are Sunni, but Shiites and Kurds have agreed, too.

The shift has led to an increase in tips from citizens and a reduction in violence, the U.S. military says. Weekly attacks in Diyala have declined from an average of 125 three months ago to 70 last week.

U.S. military leaders, including Gen. David Petraeus, have said the strategy of building local security agreements with tribes and other groups is key to winning over the population and defeating the insurgency.