Troops in Iraq Kill 11 Suspected Terrorists

American Forces Press Service

April 30, 2008 - Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 11 suspected terrorists, detained three others, and seized weapons caches in Iraq over the past three days, military officials said.

During operations this morning in the Iraqi capital:

-- Enemy fighters using small-arms fire attacked soldiers from 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, around 9 a.m. Troops fired a round from their main tank gun, killing one attacker. The soldiers fired another round minutes later at some men attempting to use an improvised rocket launcher. The round killed two of the would-be attackers and destroyed their weapon.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers operating an unmanned aerial vehicle observed three men emplacing a roadside bomb in Baghdad's Sadr City district at about 5 a.m. The UAV engaged the men with a Hellfire missile, killing one and wounding another.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained three men around 3:30 a.m. near a blast site in northwestern Baghdad, where a soldier was killed earlier by an improvised explosive device. Intelligence indicates the detained suspects were involved in the attack, military officials said.

-- Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, used a tank main gun round to engage a group of men carrying a rocket tripod. The round destroyed the tripod.

In Iraq yesterday:

-- While patrolling in the Istiqal qada region of Baghdad, soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 68th Combined Arms Battalion, spotted two men attempting to recover an armor-piercing explosively formed penetrator. Troops engaged and killed the two men, and an explosive ordnance team destroyed the explosive.

-- Coalition forces observed two men firing a mortar system in northeastern Baghdad around 5:15 p.m. A fixed wing aircraft responded, dropping a bomb that killed the men and destroyed the mortar system.

-- Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, came under attack by heavy machine-gun fire from a house in northeastern Baghdad. Troops returned fire, killing two enemy fighters and destroying two machine guns.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers engaged and killed an attacker and wounded another after receiving small-arms fire during a security patrol in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad.

During April 28 operations in Iraq:

-- "Sons of Iraq" citizen security group members helped Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers capture a key terrorist in the Iraqi capital. The suspect reportedly is responsible for car-bomb, IED and sniper attacks on coalition forces, as well as for weapons trafficking and kidnapping and murdering Iraqis.

-- The Tikrit special weapons and tactics unit, advised by U.S. Special Forces soldiers, detained a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader during an operation in the city's Qadasiyah neighborhood. The suspected terrorist financier is believed to be responsible for all IED attacks in the Qadasiyah neighborhood and for bribing local Iraqi security forces.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers discovered a significant cache in the western part of Baghdad's Rashid district and another near a mosque in Abu Tshir. The caches contained 107 mm rockets and a partially built EFP.

-- An Iraqi citizen in the Abu Osage village outside Baghdad led soldiers of 1st Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, to a cache containing 450 57 mm mortar rounds. Troops took the munitions to a nearby Iraqi army compound to be destroyed.

-- An anonymous tip led soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Platoon, Troop C, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, to a cache containing a suicide vest in Mugartimat, a town on the southwest outskirts of Baghdad. The vest was packed with about 24 pounds of homemade explosives and rolls of wire, blasting caps, and pressure and circuit switches. Explosive ordnance disposal personnel detonated the cache on site.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)