Coalition Forces Detain Nine Suspects in Iraq

American Forces Press Service

Aug. 25, 2008 - Coalition forces in Iraq detained nine suspected terrorists, including five wanted men, during operations around the country targeting al-Qaida leaders yesterday and today, military officials reported. Using information from a July 9 operation, coalition forces today captured a man assessed to be a senior terrorist liaison in Abu Ghraib. The man is suspected of facilitating the movement of senior terrorist leaders in Baghdad and was detained with one additional suspect.

In Mosul, coalition forces detained two suspected terrorists today, one of whom is a wanted man allegedly associated with several al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in the city. The wanted man is believed to be involved in attacks on coalition forces, officials said.

Yesterday in the desert town of Sinjar, about 115 kilometers southwest of Mosul, coalition forces captured two wanted men who reportedly are foreign terrorist facilitators along the Iraq-Syria border.

Coalition forces in Hawija, about 60 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk, captured a man yesterday who allegedly leads the al-Qaida in Iraq propaganda network in the area. Intelligence reports indicate he was trying to link propaganda networks from various parts of the country and consolidate operations.

Two suspected terrorists were detained in Baghdad yesterday during operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq senior leaders in the capital.

In other operations yesterday:

-- An unwilling suicide bomber surrendered to Iraqi police in Baqouba. After identifying the suicide vest on the 13-year-old girl, Iraqi police requested Iraqi and coalition force explosive ordnance disposal units to remove the vest. The girl led Iraqi police to a second suicide vest. They secured the vest and detained the girl.

-- Iraqi soldiers confiscated 11 AK-47 assault rifles and a Berno rifle in the Kadamiyah district of northwestern Baghdad.

-- Iraqi soldiers seized 22 AK-47s, three SKS rifles and three bolt-action rifles in the Mansour district of western Baghdad. Other Iraqi soldiers conducted a weapons sweep in the Mansour district, netting 75 AK-47s, three pistols and an RPK machine gun.
-- A tip from a "Sons of Iraq" citizen security group member led Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division's Company C, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, to a mortar cache containing 11 100 mm rounds and nine 57 mm rounds.

In operations Aug. 23, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, working with Iraqi security forces, discovered unexploded ordnance and a weapons cache in southern Baghdad's Rashid district.

Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division's Company E, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, called a coalition forces explosives ordnance disposal team to remove an 82 mm mortar round found in the Hayy Jihad community of Rashid.

Airmen from Detachment 3, 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces, serving as a police transition team, reported a single 60 mm mortar round on the roof of the Radwaniyah Iraqi police station in southwestern Baghdad. An EOD team disposed of the round.

Meanwhile, soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, attached to the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, found a weapons cache near a canal in western Radwaniyah. Responding to a call from Sons of Iraq members and concerned Iraqi citizens, the soldiers found 20 blasting caps, 100 rounds of PKC ammunition, and 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm ammunition. They also found eight unserviceable anti-personnel mines, two PKC rifle barrels, a pair of unserviceable night-vision goggles, an unserviceable rifle silencer, two rifle scopes and a switch box. An EOD unit disposed of the ordnance and discovered three more hand grenades.

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