U.S., Iraqi Forces Capture 50 Insurgents, Seize Numerous Weapons

Dec. 10, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi forces captured 50 insurgents and found numerous enemy weapons caches during operations conducted over the past three days, U.S. military officials reported.
Operations today included:

-- Coalition forces detained eight suspects today during operations in Baghdad that sought to put a murder and kidnapping cell out of business, officials said. The cell is believed responsible for murdering Iraqis in the Adhamiyah district, and its leader is allegedly linked to al Qaeda.

-- Iraqi national police and coalition forces teamed today to seize two weapons caches and detain six men suspected of carrying out sectarian murders and emplacing roadside bombs during operations in Baghdad's al-Hadar neighborhood.

-- Special Iraqi army forces, with coalition advisors, today detained four suspects during operations in Baghdad conducted to capture a local insurgent leader implicated in attacks against Iraqi security forces.

-- Iraqi soldiers and police are teaming up today with U.S. troops from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, to conduct a joint sweep of the Adhamiyah section of Baghdad. The operation, dubbed, "Operation Cougar," is designed to provide greater security for residents in the area.

In yesterday's operations:

-- Special Iraqi security forces with coalition advisors captured a suspected leader of an insurgent group operating in and around Baghdad's Sadr City district during an operation yesterday. The captured insurgent allegedly led an illegal group that kidnapped, tortured and killed innocent Iraqi civilians, officials said. The captured insurgent is believed to be responsible for the deaths of at least five innocent Iraqi citizens earlier this year.

-- American soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, detained 10 suspects and found a weapons cache in Baghdad yesterday. The soldiers found one grenade launcher with a round, seven AK-47 rifles with 22 loaded magazines, 3,300 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, two loaded sniper rifle magazines, six primers and one roll of wire, a pair of binoculars, and four radios.

-- Iraqi soldiers, with coalition advisors, rounded up five suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache and some al Qaeda propaganda during an operation near Mahmudiyah yesterday. The Iraqi 6th Division troops and U.S. 10th Mountain Division soldiers raided a small building complex while targeting a suspected bomb-making cell believed responsible for several attacks against U.S. and Iraqi security forces. The cache yielded two AK-47 rifles, a mortar-cleaning kit, a shotgun, and a mortar explosive. Also found were al Qaeda propaganda and some documents indicating future attacks.

-- Iraqi 8th Division soldiers, with coalition advisors, captured an insurgent cell leader in al Kut yesterday. The detainee allegedly ordered attacks against U.S. forces operating in the area, as well as directed the emplacement of roadside bombs.

-- Iraqi and coalition forces discovered an improvised explosive device while on patrol northeast of Baghdad yesterday. Iraqi soldiers followed some suspicious wiring that led into the courtyard of a local mosque, where a bomb was found and disabled.

-- U.S. soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division found an enemy weapons cache containing some anti-aircraft weapons during an operation conducted south of Baghdad yesterday. The cache included a Soviet-made SA-7 "Strella" surface-to-air missile launcher and components of a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun. The captured weapons were old, deteriorated and seemed to be unusable without significant maintenance, officials said.

-- Iraqi soldiers with the 1st Division, with coalition advisors, conducted a raid near Karmah in Anbar province and captured eight suspected insurgents yesterday. One of the detainees is suspected of having threatened local citizens and of attacking Iraqi police.

-- Iraqi 7th Division soldiers, with coalition advisors, seized two insurgent cell leaders during a raid conducted in Ta'meem near Ramadi yesterday. The seized insurgents are affiliated with al Qaeda, and are suspected of planting IEDs that have been used against coalition and Iraqi security forces operating in the area. Three other suspects also were rounded up in the raid.

In operations Dec. 8:

-- Special Iraqi army forces, with coalition advisors, nabbed a suspected insurgent leader during a raid in Baghdad Dec. 8. The detainee is implicated in several kidnappings and murders of innocent Iraqi citizens, as well as arms trafficking and IED and car bomb attacks against Iraqi security forces.

-- 1st Battalion, 6th Brigade, Iraqi national police and coalition forces seized several enemy weapons caches during an early morning raid in Baghdad's al Doura neighborhood Dec. 8. Local residents tipped off police about the location of the weaponry. Iraqi police found illegal weapons in area homes and in a mosque. Seized contraband included: four assault rifles, one machine gun, 42 mortar rounds, plastic explosives and assorted bomb-making materials.

-- U.S. Marines with Regimental Combat Team 5 killed a group of insurgents who were caught emplacing a roadside bomb in Saqlawiyah, west of Baghdad, Dec. 8. Three insurgents were killed and two vehicles were destroyed. The Marines had watched the insurgents place an IED underneath a tractor-trailer and a large truck.

-- Iraqi soldiers with the 1st Division, with coalition advisors, nabbed two suspected insurgents during a raid in Khalidiyah Dec. 8. The detainees are believed to be responsible for recent IED attacks against Iraqi security forces.

-- Iraqi and U.S. soldiers teamed up to find an IED factory in Baqubah and put it out of business during a Dec. 8 operation. Iraqi soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Iraqi Army, and American troops with the 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, found the factory inside a local residence. The factory contained more than five rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms munitions, 1,000 pounds of fertilizer, blasting caps and timers, fuel containers, several hundred feet of detonation cord, two compressed air tank IEDs, and other bomb-making materials

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