Troops in Iraq Kill 13 Enemy Fighters, Catch 79 Suspects

American Forces Press Service

May 22, 2008 - Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 13 enemy fighters, detained 79 suspects, and uncovered makeshift bombs and other weapons in recent operations in Iraq, military officials said.
In Iraq yesterday:

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers killed 11 enemy fighters in an ongoing operation in the New Baghdad security district of the Iraqi capital. Military officials said troops killed the combatants either to defend themselves from immediate danger or to prevent the enemy from planting homemade bombs in the area.

-- Coalition forces caught two individuals fleeing a mud hut near Beiji that was doubling as a weapons cache. As troops returned to the site, two enemy fighters hiding inside threw grenades. Forces engaged and killed the individuals. In a nearby raid, troops detained one wanted man and 12 other alleged associates of a bombing network that operates in the Tigris River valley.

-- Coalition forces captured six enemy fighters in Mosul, including an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq senior leader who is believed to lead attacks against coalition forces. In Sinjar, about 70 miles west of Mosul, forces captured a suspected foreign-terrorist smuggler and one additional suspect.

-- Troops captured a man believed to be a terrorist smuggler and seven additional suspected terrorists in Mosul. The wanted man allegedly is involved in al-Qaida foreign-terrorist-network operations and was found with several international phone numbers in his pocket at the time of his detention, military officials said.

-- In a simultaneous raid around Baghdad, coalition forces captured six suspects military officials have linked to Iranian-backed "special groups." One detainee is an alleged weapons smuggler and kidnapper wanted for supplying lethal aid to enemy fighters in the Shula area of the Iraqi capital.

-- Coalition forces detained three suspects while targeting an al-Qaida in Iraq logistics and administration assistant near Abu Ghraib, about 15 miles west of Baghdad. In the Iraqi capital, meanwhile, troops captured a wanted man allegedly linked to suicide-bombing operations.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained three suspected enemy fighters while conducting an intelligence-driven operation at 2 a.m. in the Abu Tshir neighborhood of southern Baghdad.

-- Coalition and Iraqi forces seized weapons stockpiles totaling scores of mortar and ammunition rounds, assault rifles, rockets and launchers, explosives-making materials, and homemade bombs in the Sadr City, Kadamiyah, Rusafa, Karkh and New Baghdad sections of the Iraqi capital and a cache about eight miles south of Baghdad.

During operations in Iraq on May 20:

-- Several coalition Black Hawk helicopters inserted teams of Iraqi special weapons and tactics troops and U.S. Special Forces soldiers into a village about nine miles northeast of Baghdad. The combined forces captured 29 insurgents, including the senior and mid-level al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in the Mullah Eid area.

-- Iraqi national police forces with support from police transition team members captured four suspected insurgents during an operation in Jisr Diyala. The detainees had outstanding warrants for terrorist activities, military officials said.

-- Coalition forces detained two suspected terrorists east of Samarra while targeting associates of a slain senior al-Qaida leader killed during an operation earlier in the day.

-- Iraqi and coalition forces discovered weapons and multiple makeshift bombs in the Sadr City section of the Iraqi capital, and several weapons caches in southern Baghdad's Rashid district. The finds included homemade explosives, bomb-making materials, a rocket-propelled grenade with launcher, and mortar rounds.

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