Soldiers Save Iraqis, Discover Insurgent Safe Houses

American Forces Press Service

June 27, 2007 – Soldiers of Multinational Division - Baghdad saved two Iraqi civilians while discovering two insurgent safe houses, one of which contained two car bombs, in the West Rashid district of the Iraqi capital Monday. Upon entering a building Monday evening, soldiers of Company A, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, rescued a man who was handcuffed to a pipe in a bathroom. Two suspects were detained. The troops had received information from residents that an extremist group was using the house as a base from which to launch a campaign of intimidation in northwest Rashid.

Troops from Company C, 1st Bn., 18th Inf. Regt., also discovered a torture house in southwest Rashid after a patrol spotted a blindfolded man running toward them from an abandoned building. Soldiers searched the area and discovered the car bombs, which were believed to be assembled elsewhere and then moved to that location for future employment. The area was secured and cordoned off, and a coalition explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the car bombs at the site.

After questioning the individual, it was determined that he had been kidnapped and taken to the building where he had been beaten by extremists before they departed the scene, allowing his escape and assistance from the patrol. In a separate raid, soldiers detained six individuals believed to be leaders in a terrorist cell operating in the Jihad neighborhood of northwest Rashid.

In another operation held Monday, coalition force helicopters engaged a large group of armed insurgents after receiving small-arms fire in Mosul, Iraq.

Coalition force attack helicopters from 1st Squadron, 17th Calvary Regiment, were attacked with small-arms fire by approximately 20 insurgents from the corners of an intersection while conducting aerial patrols.

The coalition force helicopters returned fire with rockets and small-arms fire to suppress the insurgent attack.

According to Mosul Iraqi police, one local civilian died of wounds and two were injured as a result of the crossfire. Eight houses were also damaged in the attack.

"These anti-Iraqi forces have shown, once again, a complete disregard for life; neither their own or that of innocent Iraqi civilians," said Lt. Col. Michael Boden, deputy commanding officer, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. "Our coalition aircraft were engaged by these insurgents and responded accordingly to suppress the threat and defend themselves. We regret the injuries sustained and damage incurred by Iraqi civilians whose only crime was to have these terrorists invade their neighborhood and use it to conduct an attack against Iraqi and coalition forces."

Yesterday, Iraqi special operations forces, Iraqi police and Iraqi army forces destroyed a large weapons cache during an early morning operation southeast of Nasiriyah. The cache is linked to the rogue Jaysh Al-Mahdi (JAM) militant group.

During the operation, the Iraqi forces discovered the substantial cache in a building believed to belong to rogue elements of the militant group. Iraqi forces also detained a suspicious individual present during the operation.

After determining that moving the ordnance posed an unacceptable risk, Iraqi forces immediately evacuated all civilians from the surrounding area. After ensuring all civilians were moved to a safe distance, the Iraqi forces used controlled charges to destroy the cache, minimizing damage to the surrounding areas. The cache included 30 60-millimeter rounds, 2 120-millimeter rounds, 40 155-millimeter rounds, 30 240-millimeter rounds and an anti-aircraft weapon.

Meanwhile, Iraqi army and coalition forces detained 25 suspected insurgents in a series of raids in Mosul and Tal Afar on Monday.

Two detainees captured in one raid possessed electronic media of attacks on coalition forces.

Another raid, west of Mosul, uncovered the body of a murdered local civilian. A cache of weapons containing a machine gun, several AK-47s and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were found and 17 suspected AIF were detained.

In a third raid, northeast of Mosul, six more arrests were made.

One of the suspects is on the "most wanted list" for making improvised explosive devices and vehicle attacks. Multiple fake IDs, switches, relays, spools of wire and disassembled cell phones were also seized from the residence.

"We will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of these insurgents whose aim is to injure and kill innocent Iraqis," said Lt. Col. Michael Boden, deputy commander, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

A coalition forces aircraft bombed a building today killing six insurgents near Salman Pak, Iraq, southeast of Baghdad.

A British Royal Air Force GR-4 Tornado dropped the 2,000-pound bomb after insurgents attacked an Iraqi National Police station and checkpoint destroying a guard tower and four vehicles.

After attacking the checkpoint, the insurgents entered a mosque and began firing on the checkpoint from the mosque's rooftop. The insurgents fled the mosque and entered the building which was later bombed.

Two OH-58D helicopters responded to the attack engaging about 30 anti-Iraqi forces with .50 caliber rounds and rockets.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq and Combined Joint Special Operation Task Force-Arabian Peninsula releases.)