Baghdad, Iraq ? Al-Qaida in Iraq is concerned about disorganization within its cells in the Baghdad area, with one extremist describing them as simply a “daily annoyance” to the Iraqi government, according to documents released Monday by the U.S. military.

The military said the documents were seized during April 16 raids in the Youssifiyah area, 12 miles south of the capital. The documents indicate the group is worried that its forces are unable to secure solid footholds within Baghdad, U.S. military officials said.

In one document released by the U.S., an unidentified al-Qaida member writes that the influence and power of Iraq’s Shiite majority cannot be taken lightly, especially in Baghdad, “particularly when the power of the ministries of Interior and Defense is given to them, compared to the power of the mujahedeen” in the city.

The document says that the Baghdad cells are capable of only “hit and run” operations, leading the public to conclude that “the Shiites are stronger in Baghdad and nearer to controlling it, while the mujahedeen … are not considered more than a daily annoyance to the Shiite government.”

Release of the documents appears part of a U.S. campaign to deflate the image of al-Qaida in Iraq and its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The documents were released four days after the U.S. military aired what it said were clips cut from a previously released al-Qaida in Iraq video which showed a bumbling al-Zarqawi fumbling with an unfamiliar, American-made machine gun.

The version of the tape posted on the Web showed al-Zarqawi as a confident, skilled warrior.

The other document released Monday outlined the group’s strategy in Baghdad. It said al-Qaida should focus on the capital while reducing attacks on Sunni areas “in order to reduce pressure on the Sunnis … while cleansing (Sunni areas) of spies and Shiites.”

U.S. military officials have said that militants are expected to mount more attacks in Baghdad as lawmakers struggle to form the country’s first democratically elected national unity government – a process that has been rife with sectarian and ethnic tension mirroring the violence around Iraq.