BAGHDAD -- Small numbers of al-Qaida extremists hiding along Diyala provinces border area with Iran are trying to re-infiltrate more densely populated areas to the west and south of Lake Hamrin but are finding an inhospitable landscape awaits them, according to U.S. military officials.

MUQDADIYAH -- With the seventh anniversary this week of the events in New York that catapulted America into war, images of the horror at Ground Zero are being replayed in the United States and other countries around the world.

MUQDADIYA, Iraq -- U.S. troops are helping crack down on sectarian crime by Iraqi police in Diyala province to safeguard security and sectarian reconciliation efforts in the region.

MUQTADIYA, Iraq -- Hassan Abbas Mahmoud and the town he lives in are both victims of sectarian violence and suffering the legacies of al-Qaidas attempt to build an Islamic state in Iraq.

Fear of al-Qaida is a constant in the newly liberated areas of Iraqs Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The number of terrorists is down and life for villagers is becoming more secure. Yet terrors reach is long and deep.