Iraq planning crackdown in province northeast of Baghdad

"If we succeed in controlling areas of Diyala close to Baghdad, the rate of incidents in Baghdad decreases by 95 percent," Obeidi told the Associated Press.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain arrived in southern Iraq on a surprise visit to the southern city of Basra, signaling what London hopes will be the transition from a military mission in Iraq to one with a stronger economic component, aimed at reinvigorating a country torn apart by war and years of neglect under Saddam Hussein.

"We have managed now to get Iraq into a far better position," Brown told British troops, who lined the staircases of an airport base to watch his evening arrival. "Not that violence has ended, but we are able to move to provincial Iraqi control and that's thanks to everything you have achieved."

The British plan to hand over security responsibilities for the oil-rich area to the Iraqis within weeks.

Violence has declined sharply in Iraq since June, when the influx of US troops to the capital and its surrounding areas began to gain momentum. Also credited with the decline were the freeze in activities by the Mahdi Army militia, led by the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the decision by tens of thousands of Iraqis - most of them Sunni Arab - to join the fight against Al Qaeda.

But it has been a constant challenge to subdue extremists in Diyala, which is the eastern gateway to Baghdad. More than two years ago, US forces thought they had turned the corner and American commanders handed over substantial control of the province to the Iraqi Army in August 2005.

A year later, the Al Qaeda-backed Islamic State of Iraq declared Baqubah as its capital.

This summer, US and Iraqi forces launched a new drive in Diyala, and the Americans have fostered groups of former militants who have switched sides in the fight against Al Qaeda. But any gains are hard-won: On Friday, a pair of suicide bombings less than 10 miles apart killed at least 23 people - more than half of them members of the anti-Al Qaeda groups.