`` Their father was killed by al Qaeda , '' he says . In 2007 the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes that drove out al Qaeda . As we enter the first bunker Captain Khaled Bandar tells us they found the floor littered with bodies . A gaping hole is evidence of the U.S. firepower . Insurgents used the layered and intricate labyrinth of passageways and hatches to carry out summary trials and executions . The police show us clothing and shoes , saying they are leaving them in place in case the families of the victims decide to come back . The stench of decay still lingers . Al Qaeda has been on the defensive in recent years , notwithstanding spectacular attacks attributed to the group like last week 's blasts in the capital , including suicide truck bomb attacks on the ministries of foreign affairs and finance . At least 100 people were killed and more than 500 wounded . But the concerted security campaign against the group has forced it to change its structure and strategy . According to one man who has close connections to al Qaeda in Iraq and asked not to be
WESTERN DESERT , Iraq -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The hot wind swirls around the human bones and cracked skulls that litter the forsaken desert lands in Western Iraq . The entrance to the bunker complex where al Qaeda terrorized enemies in Iraq . We are standing in the middle of what was an al Qaeda execution site , just outside an intricate bunker complex that the organization used to torture and murder its victims , the bodies left to rot or be eaten by animals . From the back of the police truck the opening to the first bunker is barely discernible in the distance . `` Al Qaeda came in as a massive force '' one of the officers says as we bump along the harsh terrain . `` They stole our cars , our personal cars . They kidnapped two of my brothers . They blew up the house over there . '' In the distance we can see his village -- a set of sand colored homes surrounded by parched farmlands . As we approach grubby children chase the truck and then stand to the side , despondent , as the officer points to their home .