There is evidence that
Al-Qaeda in Iraq moved its base of operations from
Anbar province to Diyala in 2006 and during late 2006, Baqubah and majority of the Diyala province were reported to have come under Sunni insurgent control. This insurgent control is reported to have continued through 2007 and into early 2008. On May 11, 2007, Army Maj. Gen.
Benjamin Mixon, commander of the
Multi-National Division North said he needed more troops in order to contain the current level of violence in the Diyala province, this coming in the recent wake of a
troop "surge",
involuntary recalls by the U.S. military, and the
public debate about the
level of commitment from the U.S. government. By mid-2007 the
Islamic State of Iraq, already holding Baqubah and most of the province under its control, declared its capital to be
Baqubah. The Sunni insurgent group
Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna was also active in the region around this time. In June 2007, US forces launched
Operation Arrowhead Ripper with night air assaults in
Baqubah. By August 19, Baqubah was largely secured, although some insurgent presence remained in the city and surrounding areas. Fighting continued in the
Diyala River valley but by the beginning of October, US and Iraqi forces held most of the province while the insurgents were in retreat to the north and west. On October 27 the Islamic State of Iraq attacked a police base in Baqubah, killing 28 Iraqi policemen and police recruits, showing that insurgent cells still remain in the province. In January 2008
Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remaining insurgents following the
Diyala campaign between 2006 and 2007. Mid-2008 saw many changes in Diyala province with an increased effort by U.S. Forces and a substantial Iraqi Army presence, and in the Baqubah region,
Islamic State of Iraq's activity was dramatically hampered, and the
Sons of Iraq program served only to further weaken Islamic State in Iraq.
Declaration of autonomy In December 2011, the governing council in Diyala province declared itself a semi-autonomous region within Iraq. This comes two months after
Saladin Governorate made a similar declaration. The council in Diyala, using
Article 119 of the Iraqi Constitution as justification, made the declaration because of suspicion of the
Shi'a-dominated government of
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Unlike
Salah ad Din province however, Diyala province is more ethnically and religiously mixed, and such an announcement led to the outbreak of protests in the province. ==See also ==