Coalition Forces Apprehend Kataib Hezbollah Suspects

American Forces Press Service

Oct. 7, 2008 - Coalition forces captured an alleged weapons smuggler in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, and 11 other suspects in operations today, military officials reported. Coalition forces targeted a suspected key member of the Kataib Hezbollah terrorist network believed to be responsible for Iranian-supplied armor-piercing explosives used against Iraqi and coalition forces. Troops approached the targeted individual's location, where he identified himself as the wanted suspect. He and four associates were detained without incident. Coalition forces also discovered numerous passports and several weapons.

In Tu Aym, west of Mosul, coalition forces detained four suspects allegedly associated with a man believed to facilitate the movement of foreign terrorists into Mosul. Several weapons, including a submachine gun and multiple military-style assault vests, also were found at the location.

In Mosul, forces captured one wanted man detainees already in custody suggest is a foreign terrorist facilitator. Two suspects also were detained during a related operation in Mosul targeting a wanted man believed to have connections with the city's al-Qaida leaders.

In operations yesterday:

-- Coalition forces captured a wanted man and detained two other suspects during an operation near Qayyarah, south of Mosul. Intelligence reports suggest the wanted man has connections to regional al-Qaida leadership and suspected terrorists already in custody.

-- In Kirkuk, coalition forces detained five suspects believed to be associated with a wanted man believed to conspire directly with the area's al-Qaida leaders.

-- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers attached to the 10th Mountain Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team captured a suspected member of an Iranian-backed illegal militia in eastern Baghdad's New Baghdad security district. The soldiers detained the individual, who is suspected in attacks on Iraqi security forces and coalition forces.

-- A "Sons of Iraq" citizen security group member found munitions in a rubble pile in Baghdad's Adhamiyah district. Soldiers serving with the 4th Infantry Division's Company D, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, responded and seized two Iranian hand grenades and six other hand grenades.

-- Soldiers serving with the 25th Infantry Division's Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, found two improvised rocket launchers and miscellaneous parts north of Baghdad. Soldiers serving with the 25th Infantry Division's Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, found three 155 mm projectiles, 13 rocket-propelled grenade warheads and a 32 mm rocket northwest of Baghdad.

In other news from Iraq, OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters located two anti-aircraft guns buried in the desert west of Tikrit on Oct. 4. Pilots from 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, were on their way to provide aerial security for a 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, patrol when they spotted a partially buried tarp. The tarp was covering a hole dug into the side of a hill, and the pilots saw tire tracks in the vicinity.

The Kiowa pilots radioed the location of the tarp to ground forces, who moved to their location and discovered that the tarp covered a cache. Inside the hole, the infantrymen found two ZPU-1 anti-aircraft weapons, spare barrels and almost 2,000 rounds of ammunition.

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