May 26, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

BAGHDAD: The US military distanced itself on Sunday from remarks declaring Al Qaeda in Iraq close to defeat, saying the terror network is “off-balance and on the run” but remains a very lethal threat.

However, Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a military spokesman, said violence has dropped some 70 per cent since a US troop build-up began nearly a year ago.

Underscoring the continuing dangers, a roadside bomb targeted a patrol of Unite States-allied

Sunni Arab fighters near a mosque in northern Baghdad, killing one of the so-called Awakening Council members and wounding three others, a police official said.

Driscoll was responding to a question about comments made Saturday by US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who said Iraqi forces have made important progress in confronting extremists.

“You are not going to hear me say that Al Qaeda is defeated, but they’ve never been closer to defeat than they are now,” Crocker said, speaking in Arabic to reporters during a visit to Najaf.

Driscoll said the number of attacks in the past week had “decreased to the level not seen since March 2004”, due to recent military operations against Shia militias in Sadr City and the southern city of Basra, as well as Sunni insurgents in the northern city of Mosul.

But he warned Al-Qaeda in Iraq maintains the ability to stage suicide bombings and other deadly attacks.

“They certainly are off-balance and on the run,” Driscoll said during a news conference in the US-protected Green Zone in Baghdad.

But, he added, the group “remains a very lethal threat”.

—AP