Coalition Troops Kill Militants in Baghdad Raid

American Forces Press Service

Oct. 27, 2008 - Coalition forces in Iraq killed five militants early today after a small-arms attack in Baghdad's New Baghdad security district, military officials reported. Coalition troops were attacked about 1:20 a.m. with small-arms fire at a joint security station, officials said. The soldiers identified the attackers and returned fire. A total of five attackers were killed with no U.S. casualties, they said.

In another operation today, coalition forces killed three terrorism suspects during operations near Tikrit, about 100 miles north of Baghdad. Ground forces had surrounded a building in an effort to apprehend a man believed to facilitate suicide-vest and roadside bombings in the Tigris River Valley.

Soldiers called for the occupants to surrender, then were fired upon by a man running from the house. Acting in self defense, coalition forces engaged the man, killing him. Another man then began firing at the team. They returned fire and killed the man. Coalition forces killed a third man inside the building when he picked up a rifle from one of the dead terrorists and engaged the forces, officials said.

Two other suspects were detained. A third suspect was injured and was treated by coalition forces before being taken to a nearby base for additional care. One of the dead terrorists later was identified as the wanted man, they said.

Also today, coalition forces in Mosul killed a man wanted for terrorist acts committed as an al-Qaida in Iraq leader in the area, officials said. Upon arriving at the target location, coalition forces entered a building intelligence reports indicated was an al-Qaida in Iraq hideout. The wanted man engaged forces with a pistol as they entered the building. The troops returned fire, killing him.

In Baghdad today, coalition forces captured a wanted man known to be an al-Qaida in Iraq courier.

In weekend operations:

-- Coalition forces captured a wanted man yesterday who intelligence reports suggest is connected to an al-Qaida in Iraq bombing network. The suspect is believed to have been planning attacks against troops in the region, officials said.

-- In southern Baghdad's Rashid district Oct. 25 and yesterday, coalition troops working with Iraqi security forces discovered an improvised explosive device and detained a member of an Iranian-backed terrorist group.

-- Soldiers assigned to the 4th Infantry Division's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, contacted a coalition explosives ordnance disposal unit to pick up a 155 mm artillery round prepared to be used as a roadside bomb. The device had no initiator and was discovered in an abandoned house in West Rashid. The EOD unit safely recovered the IED.

-- In a targeted raid early yesterday in the Aamel community, soldiers from the 1st Battalion's Company A detained a suspected Iranian-backed terrorist group member wanted for weapons trafficking, murder, and roadside-bomb attacks.

-- Iraqi and coalition soldiers seized weapons caches in the greater Baghdad area yesterday afternoon, based on citizens' tips. The seized items included a 57mm rocket and improvised launching tube, 15 glass beakers, 5 pounds of ammonium perchlorate, 5 pounds of propellant and four five-gallon jugs of nitric acid.

-- Iraqi police and soldiers and coalition forces seized a weapons cache Oct. 25 north of Baghdad. Soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division's Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, seized 10 rocket-propelled grenades. An explosive ordnance detachment team destroyed the weapons in a controlled detonation.

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