U.S. Soldiers Stop Baghdad Bomber; Iraqi Police Catch Two Killers

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2006 – U.S. soldiers stopped a would-be Baghdad bomber in his tracks today, while Iraqi police officers nabbed two suspected killers during a raid yesterday. Baghdad-based U.S. soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, detained a terrorist after he attempted to place an improvised explosive device in the southwestern part of the city around 1:30 p.m. today.

In Ghazaliyah yesterday, police officers captured two people suspected of kidnapping and murdering Iraqi citizens. The police seized the two suspects in separate raids without incident.

The detainees allegedly recruited and led members of a terror cell involved in the murder of innocent civilians. No civilians or Iraqi or coalition security forces were injured during the operation.

Also yesterday, terrorists damaged the newly constructed Jurf as Sakhr police station in northern Babil province. The terrorists detonated a mobile car bomb as they attempted to drive into the police compound. Iraqi police and civic leaders had conducted an opening ceremony for the $440,000 facility on Sept. 12.

American soldiers with Company B, 1st Battalion, 67th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, fired at a white two-door sedan and its occupants as the vehicle barreled through the front gates of the police station. At the same time, terrorists attacked several guard towers adjacent to the police station. The vehicle continued toward the station and blew up when it struck the building's northwest corner.

The blast killed two Iraqi police officers and wounded four. Eight U.S. soldiers on guard duty at the time were wounded. They were treated for minor injuries and returned to duty, officials said. The injured Iraqi police were taken to the Musayyib hospital.

In other news, U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, discovered two weapons caches during an operation west of Baghdad on Sept. 24. The first cache contained seven 125 mm artillery rounds, 45 122 mm mortar rounds, 15 120 mm anti-personnel mines, 11 60 mm mortars, 46 120 mm fuses, 103 rocket-propelled grenades, 100 RPG boosters, six RPG fuses, 15,000 RPK machine gun rounds, and 10 cases of 7.62 mm rounds. The second cache yielded 21 RPG rounds, two 122 mm mortar rounds, a bag of homemade explosives and various bomb-making materials.

As of Sept. 24, Iraqi security forces and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers have cleared about 95,000 buildings, 80 mosques and 65 neighborhoods, detained more than 125 terrorist suspects, seized more than 1,600 weapons, registered more than 750 weapons and found 37 weapons caches in support of Operation Together Forward. The combined forces also have removed more than 186,000 cubic meters of trash from the streets of Baghdad.

Elsewhere, U.S. soldiers defeated a terrorist attack and took the terrorists' weapons during an engagement that occurred south of Baghdad on Sept 23.

Terrorists attacked the 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small-arms fire. The soldiers returned fire and disabled the terrorists' vehicle.

Four terrorists fled the battle and ran into a nearby palm grove. Soldiers investigating the scene discovered a dead terrorist and weapons inside the vehicle. The seized contraband included three rifles, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, two RPG rounds, a rocket, and 10 ammo magazines suitable for use with an AK-47 rifle.