U.S. and Iraqi forces display 400 tank rounds. The ammunition was part of a large cache found south of Baghdad, near Al Iskandariyah March 18. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michelle Brown, 705th Ordnance Detachment). Click to view.

Al Qaeda in Iraq was able to pull off two successful major attacks over the past 48 hours. On Sunday, al Qaeda detonated a car bomb at a market in a Shia neighborhood outside of Sadr city, killing 6 and wounding 30. Today al Qaeda conducted a multi pronged, coordinated car and roadside bombing attack in Kirkuk, which killed 18 and wounded 37.

The blasts happened in different parts of the city but exploded within a few minutes. One car bomb targeted the local offices of the secular political party of former prime minister Iyad Allawi, another one targeted a government building and the third exploded in a commercial street, Brigadier Sarhat Qader said. The three roadside bombs targeted Iraqi police and army patrols...

Today, Al Qaeda also struck a Shia mosque in Baghdad, killing 8 and wounding 32. "Police said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed in the corner behind the preacher's podium, leaving a crater and a pile of rubble on the floor," reports the Associated Press.

Al Qaeda and the Anbar Salvation Council continue to battle in Anbar province. After the chlorine gas attacks on March 17, al Qaeda attacked the local post office in the rural town of Juwayba, near Ramadi, and found "the decapitated and bound bodies of nine policemen." Post offices in Anbar are often manned by police units.

In Husayba, a village just outside of Ramadi, the townsmen "cleansed their town completely from armed... gangs" after al Qaeda attempted to coerce a young boy to fight with them. "His mother called for the help of town's residents who tens of them gathered and took arms to comb farms, then they arrested 11 terrorists and [handed] them over to Ramadi police," reports Al Sahaab. This would be the Thuwra al Anbar - the armed wing of the Anbar Salvation Council - in action.

Iraqi security forces and Multinational Forces Iraq are maintaining the pressure on al Qaeda and insurgent networks across the country. Iraq security forces claimed to have captured Mahmud Hamed Kamal al-Mathi - aka "Abu Qutada the Palestinian" - al Qaeda in Iraq's chief financier. On Monday, Iraqi security forces captured "33 terrorists including 5 of al Qaeda," according to Al Sabaah. Also, Iraqi security forces arrested 7 members of Dhafir al-Aani's bodyguard after they found cars with traces of explosives, 65 AK-47s and a sniper rifle engraved with a jihadi phrase. All but one were later released. Aani is a "prominent Sunni Arab legislator" and member of the Sunni Accordance Front.

On March 19, Coalition forces captured "nine suspected terrorists including an alleged improvised explosive device maker" during raids against al Qaeda in Iraq's network in Ramadi, Fallujah and Baghdad. Two more insurgents were captured north of Baghdad after a weapons cache was found.

On March 18, 12 terrorists were captured during raids in Ramadi, Baghdad Mosul and Habbaniyah. That same day, U.S. soldiers found a large cache south of Baghdad, which contained "400 tank rounds, 50 130mm mortars and three 60 mm mortars," materials which are used in IEDs. On March 17, the Iraqi Army stopped a suicide attack on a checkpoint in Diyala province. The day prior, police in Diyala stopped a suicide bomber attempting to enter a hospital in Diyala.