Al-Qa'ida in Iraq 'has never been closer to defeat'

Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in more than four years, according to figures released yesterday by the US military, but officials said progress was still fragile and reversible.

Iraqi security officials added that an offensive against al-Qa'ida in the northern city of Mosul, which the US military says is the group's last major urban stronghold, had wiped out most of the insurgent network.

In an emphatic statement sure to provoke scepticism in many quarters, Washington's envoy to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, declared that the war against al-Qa'ida in the country was being won. "You are not going to hear me say that al-Qa'ida is defeated, but they've never been closer to defeat than they are now," Mr Crocker told reporters during a visit to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in southern Iraq. The US military released information showing that incidents such as roadside bombs, shootings, and rocket attacks, had fallen to their lowest level since the week of 26 March 2004.

The figures are good news for President George Bush, who sent 30,000 extra troops to Iraq last year and has rejected calls by Democrats for 155,000 troops to be withdrawn as soon as possible, a position shared by the Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The two Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have campaigned for troops to be brought home.

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