Forces Catch Two Terrorists in Iraq, Capture Weapons

American Forces Press Service

May 21, 2008 - Coalition and Iraqi forces detained two terrorists and seized weapons in recent operations in Iraq, military officials said.
In Iraq yesterday:

-- Based on intelligence gleaned from a mid-April operation, coalition forces raided what they believed to be an Iranian-backed "special groups" stronghold in Baghdad's Rashid district. Troops detained one targeted special groups leader without incident. Military officials believe the captured individual coordinated and conducted attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in southwestern Baghdad.

-- Iraqi special operations forces detained a man in the Ghazaliya area of the Iraqi capital who officials said is an al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist suspected of murdering local Iraqis.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers discovered a weapons cache in the Bayaa community of southern Baghdad. Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division's Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, found the cache inside an abandoned house while conducting a combat patrol in the area. The weapons included about 40 mortar rounds, bomb-making materials, nearly 3,000 ammunitions rounds, handcuffs, uniforms, body armor, and a nearly completed makeshift bomb.

In earlier operations, Iraqi army soldiers found a large buried cache May 19 during clearing operations in support of Operation Lion's Roar in the Younis al Sabawi neighborhood of Mosul. The cache consisted of hundreds of mortar rounds and fuses, two mortar tubes, two mortar bipods, a suicide vest, two rockets, and eight mines, military officials said.

"The explosives and weapons were likely to be used against coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi citizens," said Army Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for Multinational Division North. Iraqi and coalition forces will continue to disrupt enemy operations "until they run out of resources," she added.

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