BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces are making inroads into insurgent groups, although attacks may well increase before December's planned election, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a German magazine.
"The pressure applied on terrorists and insurgents is having an effect," Rumsfeld said in an interview in Der Spiegel magazine released on Sunday.
"We are capturing and killing large numbers of high-ranking people from groups like those of al Qaeda and Zarqawi," Rumsfeld said in comments translated into German.
Rumsfeld said he and others had believed violence would peak before the referendum on the Iraqi constitution on October 15, but he said that had not been the case.
"There can of course be a rise of attacks before the December election," Rumsfeld said.
He said an increasing number of Iraqis were providing anonymous tip-offs by telephone about insurgent activities.
The insurgency in Iraq has shown no signs of waning, despite a series of U.S. offensives in rebel strongholds. This month the U.S. military death toll in Iraq passed the 2,000 mark.
Rumsfeld said it was hard to say whether the "war on terrorism" was being won.
"But there are many very good signs and one of them is the enormous number of high-ranking terrorists whose trail we are following," he said.
"Osama bin Laden hasn't been seen in a video for a hellishly long time. That could be because he's become shy -- but wasn't before."
Iraqis will go to the polls on December 15 in an election that Washington is hoping will set Iraq firmly on the path to peace and democracy two and a half years after the U.S.-led invasion.
Rumsfeld said even Sunnis, who voted overwhelmingly against the U.S.-backed constitution, were recognizing that it was a mistake to stay out of the democratic process.
"Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds will take part in the voting process on December 15. I believe it will be a successful election," Rumsfeld said.
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