Iraqi Forces Thwart Terrorist; Insurgent Bomb Hits Ambulance

American Forces Press Service

April 19, 2007 – A quick-thinking Iraqi soldier thwarted a would-be terrorist, U.S. soldiers found a weapons cache, and a terrorist bomb hit an ambulance, wounding three Iraqis during operations in Iraq April 17. An alert Iraqi army soldier from the 2nd Iraqi Army Division identified and engaged a driver attempting to attack an Iraqi combat outpost with a suicide car bomb near April 17, near Nablis.

The driver was shot and killed by the soldier, causing his bomb to detonate prematurely. The blast, although missing its intended target, killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded four others.

Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, responded to the scene and offered assistance moving the wounded to a local hospital.

Elsewhere, a terrorist bomb detonated against an Iraqi ambulance near the Salah Ad Din town of Mukayshifah, severely injuring three civilians April 17. Coalition forces responded to the blast site and provided medical assistance to the injured. All three wounded civilians were transported to a coalition medical facility for treatment.

"This is a deplorable act by the terrorists in this area to target injured Iraqis and medical personnel," said Col. Bryan Owens, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. "It is apparent that terrorists don't differentiate amongst Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces, and coalition forces. No matter who pays the price, these terrorists are content as long as they continue to cause death, destruction and damage to the Iraqis and their infrastructure."

In another operation, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers found five containers filled with explosives April 17 near Al Shira, on the site of a vacant hospital that was destroyed two days earlier by insurgents.

After receiving information from villagers that insurgents had used explosives to destroy the building April 15, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, investigated the site.

Upon examination of the destroyed building, the soldiers discovered four propane tanks filled with explosives and a separate container filled with an unknown explosive substance.

Soldiers are currently investigating the incident to find those responsible for destroying the building.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)

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