US forces rerouted from Baghdad to quell violence in Diyala

The US military dispatched more than 700 US troops to open a new front in the Baghdad security operation, broadening the drive to crush sectarian violence to a volatile province northeast of the capital, where Sunni insurgents had fled ahead of the crackdown.

The fresh troops from the Army's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment - equipped with Stryker vehicles - joined more than 20,000 Iraqi security forces already in Diyala, where insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent weeks at a time when violence appears to be ebbing in Baghdad. (AP)