Two killed in Iraq roadside bomb

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BAGHDAD, Dec 31 Agencies): A roadside bomb targeting a patrol near the Iranian border killed two Iraqi soldiers Monday and injured another four, police said, as 2007 neared its end with the country having witnessed a decline in overall violence. he attack occurred shortly after dawn in the frontier town of Mandali, about 30 miles from the Iranian border in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to the media.
Diyala has become one of Iraq's most dangerous areas. Most of the activities of al-Qaida in Iraq have been pushed out of Anbar province and Baghdad into Diyala and the northern city of Mosul, following a surge of US troops in Baghdad and the work of Sunni tribal groups.
"Diyala has been one of the tougher fights," US Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said in Baghdad Sunday. "Diyala is an area of significant interest for al-Qaida."
Overall, the country has seen a 60 percent decline in violence, US military officials have said. The fall is attributed to a combination of the surge, a cease-fire declared by radical Shiite extremist Muqtada al-Sadr for his Mahdi Army militia and the growth of the Awakening Councils, the mainly Sunni tribal groups that have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.