Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced that al-Qaeda has been chased out of Baghdad.
He said the banishment of the network in Baghdad is the result of a security plan launched a year ago, and that al-Qaeda would soon be defeated throughout the country.
'Thank God, we destroyed the cells of al-Qaeda,' Prime Minister al-Maliki said.
'They have been chased out of Baghdad and this has opened the way for their defeat throughout Iraq.'
The Prime Minister was speaking at a ceremony marking last year's February launch of the Baghdad security plan, known as Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Imposing Law).
'Today our forces are locked in battle against outlaws in Nineveh and we are chasing them,' he added, referring to the northern province where Iraqi officials say al-Qaeda has regrouped after fleeing Baghdad.
On January 25 the Prime Minister announced a 'decisive battle' against al-Qaeda in Nineveh province, and sent troop and police reinforcements to the provincial capital Mosul, which the US military says is the last urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The launch of Fardh al-Qanoon coincided with the start of a 'surge' of an extra 30,000 US troops in Iraq, which has helped reduce the number of bombings in the capital, while the streets are no longer theatres for violent clashes between insurgents and the security forces.
Violence is down elsewhere as well, with US and Iraqi officials saying that attacks across the country are down 62% since June while the number of Iraqis - civilians and security force members - killed in January 2008 was 541 against 2,087 in the same month in 2007.
But recent attacks in Baghdad, including twin blasts in the city centre which targeted a meeting of tribal leaders and killed 19 people, have shown just how fragile the security situation is.
