Iraqis Seize Cache, Detain Terrorist, Secure Drone

American Forces Press Service

Sept. 1, 2009 - Iraqi forces seized a cache of supplies used to make rocket launchers, detained a terrorism suspect and secured a crashed U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle in recent days, military officials in Iraq reported. Iraqi soldiers and a tactical police unit from Amarah seized the rocket-launcher supplies in Maysan province yesterday. The operation snared 16 complete rocket rails and more than 1,300 car jacks and other components used in the assembly of the rails.

Hundreds of jacks were smuggled in banana shipping crates marked with Iranian stickers, officials said.

"The loss of this particular cache will seriously hinder the criminals' ability to disrupt peace in southern Iraq," said Army Maj. Myles Caggins, spokesman for the 1st Armored Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team. "It was especially encouraging to see a number of local citizens come forward to tell the Iraqi army about the cache location. Outlaws who smuggle lethal aid seek to undermine economic development in Maysan."

The 38th Iraqi Army Brigade and Iraqi police, with help from weapons intelligence specialists assigned to the U.S. Army's 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, are investigating the evidence. The U.S. battalion advises and assists Iraqi security forces from their base in rural Maysan.

Emergency Response Brigade elements, along with U.S. forces advisors, arrested a suspected terrorist in Baghdad on Aug. 30. The suspect allegedly is affiliated with insurgent groups
operating in the area, and was wanted for conducting bomb attacks against Iraqi government officials, security forces and civilians.

In other news from Iraq, Iraqi and U.S. forces recovered an unmanned aerial vehicle that crashed yesterday on a roof in the Rashadiyah neighborhood in northwestern Mosul.

U.S. forces received permission from the Ninevah Operations Center to move through the city to recover the aircraft. Iraqi soldiers were the first to arrive at the crash scene, where they found the aircraft intact and secured the area. They recovered the vehicle and moved it to a more secure location, where they waited for U.S. servicemembers to arrive.

Iraqi soldiers met U.S. forces and handed the recovered aerial vehicle over. U.S. and Iraqi forces are assessing the rooftop for damage. No injuries were reported, and the crash is under investigation.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)