It seems that Al Qaeda is so thick in certain parts of Iraq that if a soldier shot indiscriminately he’d end up with a bunch of them dead.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy, as Al Qaeda is good at hiding and using children and women to sheild them.

BAQOUBA, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed 90 al Qaeda fighters across Baghdad in the past five days during one of the biggest combined offensives against the Sunni Islamist group since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, U.S. officials said yesterday.

U.S. air strikes yesterday killed seven fighters suspected of belonging to al Qaeda in Tikrit in Salahuddin province and near the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military also announced yesterday that roadside bombs killed seven American troops in Iraq, including four in a single incident outside Baghdad.

In the latest military action, thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are taking part in simultaneous offensives in provinces across Baghdad to deny al Qaeda militants sanctuary in farmlands and towns from which they launch car bomb attacks and other violence.

U.S. officials say al Qaeda is trying to spark all-out sectarian civil war in Iraq. A key plank of the combined offensives is Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which began Tuesday in and around the city of Baqouba in Diyala province.

U.S. soldiers have been tightening the cordon around al Qaeda fighters holed up in Baqouba, advancing carefully through streets lined with roadside bombs and booby-trapped houses.

“We are enveloping the enemy into a ‘kill sack,’ ” said Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Huggins from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade.

Baqouba is an al Qaeda stronghold that also has become a sanctuary for militants escaping the four-month-old security crackdown in Baghdad. U.S. officials hope that striking militants outside the capital will support the security operations inside Baghdad.

Col. Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, told local Iraqi political and military leaders in Baqouba that progress was being made.

“I believe the initial stage of the operation will be completed in another three to five days,” Col. Townsend said at a building that serves as a joint command center for U.S. and Iraqi forces.

The overall offensive around Baqouba is expected to last many weeks. U.S. military commanders have said the combined operations take advantage of the completion of a buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq to 156,000.

Reuters report in the Washington Times.