Iraqi leader takes charge of offensive

Many Sunnis opposed to Al Qaeda were at the funeral for Taha Obaid, a school principal who was shot dead Tuesday.

South of the capital, explosives strapped onto a young girl killed an Iraqi captain and wounded four soldiers yesterday. Iraqi Army Lieutenant Ahmed Ali said the explosives were detonated by remote control as the girl approached the Iraqi commander in Youssifiyah, in the area once known as the Triangle of Death.

Both Iraqi and American spokesmen confirmed that the attack took place, and the US military said it was investigating. Major John Hall, a coalition spokesman, said US reports indicated one Iraqi soldier was killed and seven wounded.

Maliki's flight to Mosul, 225 miles northwest of the capital, mirrors a trip he took almost two months ago to the southern city of Basra, where government troops fought radical Shi'ite militias. That fighting spread to Sadr City, a Shi'ite enclave in Baghdad, where a cease-fire to end fighting was reached this week.

Associated Press Television News footage showed Maliki being briefed by senior Iraqi officers and officials who used large maps to point out their operations. Maliki made no comment.

"The Iraqi prime minister has arrived in Mosul to supervise the military operations, and its second phase is due to start today," Mohammed al-Askari, the spokesman of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told The Associated Press. "The main aim of this operation is to purge and clean Ninevah province of all militants and their weapons and declare it a safe area."

Mosul is considered the last important urban staging ground for Al Qaeda in Iraq after the terror group lost its strongholds in Baghdad and other areas during the US. troop buildup last year.

Maliki has been promising a crackdown since January. But no major offensives have been mounted even as Al Qaeda in Iraq tried to exert its influence through attacks and intimidation.