(Recasts) By Alister Bull BAQUBA, Iraq, June 23 (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces say they have killed 90 al Qaeda fighters around 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. air strikes on Saturday killed seven suspected al Qaeda fighters in Tikrit in Salahuddin province and near the city of Falluja, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement announcing the latest raids. In Baghdad, Iraq's parliament voted to cut its summer vacation by a month to focus on passing laws Washington views as crucial to healing Iraq's deep sectarian divide. Lawmakers said the current session would be extended until the end of July. The move is likely to be welcomed by U.S. President George W. Bush but is largely symbolic as the bills have yet to be presented to parliament for debate. U.S. attack helicopters have killed dozens of al Qaeda militants and destroyed numerous safe houses, signalling a more aggressive stance toward the group, which U.S. officials say is trying to spark all-out sectarian civil war in the country. Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are taking part in simultaneous offensives in beltways and provinces around Baghdad to deny al Qaeda militants sanctuary in farmlands and towns from where they launch car bomb attacks and other violence. A key plank of the combined offensives is Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which began in and around the city of Baquba in Diyala province on Tuesday. The U.S. military said on Saturday that 55 al Qaeda militants had been killed in that operation alone. Another 28 have been killed in separate operations in the past several days in Diyala, the U.S. military has said. U.S. soldiers have been tightening their cordon around al Qaeda fighters holed up in Baquba, advancing carefully through streets lined with roadside bombs and booby-trapped houses. "We are enveloping the enemy into a kill sack," said Command Sergeant Major Jeff Huggins from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade. Baquba is an al Qaeda stronghold that has also become a sanctuary for militants escaping a four-month-old security crackdown in Baghdad. Colonel Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, told local Iraqi political and military leaders in Baquba that progress was being made. "I believe the initial stage of the operation will be completed in another three to five days," Townsend said at a building that serves as a joint command centre for U.S. and Iraqi forces. It was unclear what would happen in the next stage, but the overall offensive around Baquba is expected to last many weeks. U.S. military commanders have said the combined operations were taking advantage of the completion of a build-up of U.S. forces in Iraq to 156,000 soldiers. Bush has sent 28,000 more troops to Iraq to buy time for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to reach a political compromise with disaffected minority Sunni Arabs, who are locked in a cycle of violence with majority Shi'ites. Much of that effort revolves around passing laws on sharing revenues from Iraq's huge oil reserves more equitably, holding provincial elections and allowing former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to the government and military. U.S. officials had been urging parliament to either scrap its July-August summer holiday or reduce the two-month break so legislators can speed up passage of the laws. Maliki said last week the drafts were ready and would be presented to parliament this week, but that did not happen. Parliamentary committees dealing with the draft laws would not take any summer break, one lawmaker said. Washington believes the laws will boost the participation of minority Sunni Arabs in the political process. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Paul Tait and Ross Colvin in Baghdad)
