Coalition Forces Capture 17 in Operations Across Iraq

American Forces Press Service

Jan. 15, 2008 - Coalition forces detained 17 suspects during operations yesterday and today targeting al Qaeda networks across Iraq, and military officials have released details of other recent operations.

In today's operations:

-- In Baghdad, coalition forces captured a suspected terrorist believed to be an associate of a bomb attack cell in Karkh.

-- West of Muqdadiyah, forces caught four suspects and uncovered a weapons cache. The cache stored mortars, machine guns and grenades.

-- In Mosul and near Samarra, five suspects were caught in operations targeting an assassination cell leader and a foreign terrorist facilitator.

-- Coalition forces detained two suspects in the Suwayrah area, south of Baghdad. They caught the pair while looking for a suspect who reportedly received weapons training to use against coalition and Iraqi forces. He also reportedly was an associate of several senior-level criminal leaders.

In operations yesterday, forces in Kirkuk nabbed a suspect wanted for involvement in the murders of a U.S. citizen and members of a personnel security detail. The suspect also is believed to be involved in a Baghdad car-bomb network. Coalition forces detained three other suspects in the operation.

Also yesterday, Iraqi special operations forces, alongside U.S. Special Forces soldiers, caught a suspected terrorist cell leader during a raid in Mosul. The suspect is believed to be responsible for several bomb attacks, kidnapping and murder.

In other recent operations:

-- Iraqi security forces stopped a kidnapping attempt Jan. 13 in the Karada peninsula of Baghdad. The same day, forces found a car-bomb factory near Hamid Shaban. Four vehicles, explosives and other bomb-making materials were recovered.

-- Members of a concerned local citizens group from the Karkh district in the Iraqi capital turned over a large weapons cache Jan. 12. The cache held 21 mines, two anti-tank rockets, two 53 mm rockets with launchers, two 152 mm artillery rounds, fuses and three boxes of dynamite.

-- Forces arrested a man Jan. 11 suspected of being involved in a bombing at the Furat hospital in the West Rashid district that injured two.

-- Also Jan. 11, forces arrested two men after a car chase near Jisr Diyala. The two were suspected of emplacing bombs.

(Compiled from Multinational Force and Corps Iraq news releases.)