US:Senior American military commanders believe they have broken the power of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which the Bush administration has characterised as the most formidable threat to US troops there, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The newspaper said that some generals feel so confident that they want to formally declare victory over the group but intelligence officials fear that such a declaration could be premature.
Led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until his death last year, al-Qaeda in Iraq has suffered a succession of serious blows in recent months, with many of its leading figures captured.
Suicide bombings, the group's trademark operation, have fallen from an average of 60 in January to about 30 a month since the summer.
US officials claim that the troop surge, which has seen more US forces deployed in Baghdad and Anbar province, and an alliance between the US and Sunni sheikhs have helped to deprive al-Qaeda in Iraq of a secure base for operations.
Some analysts have long been sceptical about the threat represented by al-Qaeda in Iraq, which the US frequently blames for spectacular atrocities that later prove to have been the work of other insurgent groups. The US military estimated in July that al-Qaeda in Iraq was responsible for 15 per cent of attacks in Iraq but other US officials have suggested that the real number may have been half that.
According to yesterday's report, some in the Bush administration are unwilling to acknowledge openly that the group is crippled because they fear that such a declaration would reinforce critics who argue that US troops are caught in a civil war in Iraq.
Others argue that it could be too soon to write off a group that has recovered from setbacks in the past, notably the death of Zarqawi last year.
Yesterday the group said it was behind an attack on a convoy of Sunni tribal members who are co-operating with the US in Iraq's central Salaheddin province, which killed three people and wounded five.
The victims were about to enter a village where they were to address locals on how to counteract al-Qaeda in Iraq activities when their vehicles came under attack from gunmen in a car, which then sped away.
Top marine Gen James Conway said yesterday that he agreed that al-Qaeda in Iraq had been crippled but warned that it had shown previously an "amazing ability to regenerate".
"Are they crippled? Yeah. Are they still dangerous? Absolutely," he said.
Yesterday's Washington Postreport came a day after one of the newspaper's correspondents in Iraq was shot dead in Baghdad.
Salih Saif Aldin (32) joined the newspaper in his hometown of Tikrit in early 2004 and later moved to Baghdad, where he played an important role in the Washington Post'scoverage.
"Salih's death reminds us once again of the central role that Iraqi journalists and others have played in our coverage of the war and the immense sacrifices they have made to help us understand it," said David Hoffman, the newspaper's assistant managing editor for foreign news.
At least 118 journalists have been killed in Iraq while on duty, including almost 100 Iraqis, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.