US general Dip in Baghdad violence temporary

WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) Violence in Baghdad has declined as thousands of US and Iraqi forces flow into the city, but the dip is likely temporary while insurgents halt attacks to assess the situation, a US commander said today.

''They are watching us carefully,'' said Army Maj Gen Joseph Fil, commander of Multi-National Division Baghdad.

''There is an air of suspense throughout the city, expectation if you will, and we believe there's no question about it -- many of these extremists are laying low and watching to see what it is we do and how we do it.'' ''We do not believe that that is going to continue,'' Fil told reporters at the Pentagon by videoconference from Baghdad. ''We do expect there are going to be some very rough, difficult days ahead.

This enemy, they understand lethality and they have a thirst for blood like I have never seen anywhere before.'' Fil said the number of attacks in Baghdad had declined significantly, and that none of the attacks in the past two days have been effective against US and coalition forces.

He also noted the number of attacks conducted by the Mehdi Army militia had declined. But he said did not know if that was because its leader, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, appears to have fled the area.

''Whether that's the result of strategy or a power vacuum, I can't say,'' Fil said.

Asked about reports that the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was injured, Fil would only say that al-Masri was being sought.

''He should know, he knows very well, that we are definitely after him and that he is a hunted man,'' Fil said.

''Whether or not his loss will mean anything to al Qaeda in Iraq, it certainly will but we have also seen that their able to rejuvenate leadership very quickly,'' he said. ''We are continuing to go after they're entire architecture.'' About 112,000 additional US and Iraqi forces are now in Baghdad, including 35,000 US troops, Fil said.

The Iraqi forces, a key part of US President George W Bush's security plan for Baghdad, have been streaming into the city as expected, he said. Four additional Iraqi battalions are headed to the capital as well, according to Fil.

Reuters KR DB2152