Good News From The War On Terror 7/17
Attack weapons team engages IED triggerman
TIKRIT, Iraq – Attack helicopters from the 1st Squadron 82nd Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade engaged and killed two insurgents and wounded another three in two engagements July 13, near Samarra, Iraq.
The first attack weapons team observed a fuel tanker burning after being struck by an IED on a local main supply route. The team identified and engaged the emplacers, killing one and wounding the other two.
Coalition ground forces from D/2-505 Parachute Infantry Regiment moved in and recovered small arms and ammunition and a video camera with tape containing video of mortar, IED and SVBIED attacks.
A second engagement took place when attack helicopters observed two insurgents digging and placing an IED next to a road near a village in Tikrit, Iraq.
Coalition Force helicopters engaged the emplacers, killing one insurgent and wounding the other.
BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, working together with Iraqi Army troops, discovered two caches totaling approximately 700 lbs. of homemade explosives in the early morning hours of July 15.
The 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment made the cache finds during Operation Purple Haze, part of an ongoing effort to establish security in the western Baghdad Jamiya’a neighborhood.
The homemade explosives, 14 50-lb. bags, were found in an abandoned house along with ball bearings and detonation cord. An explosive ordnance disposal unit conducted a controlled detonation of the one bag of homemade explosives at the site of the discovery. The bag was torn and the explosives were leaking, making the bag unsafe for transportation. All other items in the cache were removed from the house prior to demolition.
In a separate raid during the same operation, a smaller cache of munitions and weapons was discovered.
Two machine guns, one AK-47 assault rifle and a variety of knives, grenades and other small explosives were uncovered in a second abandoned home in the neighborhood.
One call, 30 residents prevent car bombing in Adhamiyah
CAMP TAJI, Iraq — A phone call to the Adhamiyah Joint Security Station and residents of the eastern Baghdad district helped foil an attempted car bombing July 16.
The Adhamiyah JSS received the call, providing the location of a possible vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in the area. Elements of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division and 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment investigated the area.
When the troops arrived at the scene, approximately 30 residents identified a parked vehicle as a possible car bomb. The explosives were removed from the vehicle and safely detonated without injury or damage to the community.
Insurgents killed during Rusafa District firefight
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — Multi-National Division – Baghdad troops killed approximately 12 insurgents during a firefight in eastern Baghdad after coming under attack by insurgents with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades July 16.
Insurgents attacked paratroopers from the 1st “Red Devil” Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, in the Fadhl neighborhood of the Rusafa District.
The firefight began as Soldiers received fire from the Islamic Bank Building, with insurgents attacking the troops with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades at approximately 2 p.m. Coalition Forces returned fire and called for attack aviation support in a three-hour engagement. The insurgents were heard using the public address system of a local mosque in an appeal for more of their forces to engage Coalition Forces.
Iraqi Army, Coalition Forces capture Al Qaeda Emir in Qayyarah
BAGHDAD – Elements of the Iraqi Army Second Division, with Coalition Forces as advisors, captured the alleged emir of Qayyarah for Al Qaeda during an intelligence driven operation July 15 in Qayyarah.
During the operation, Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces also detained three other individuals at the residence and recovered terrorist propaganda, passports and Korean currency.The capture of this individual will disrupt terrorist networks operating in eastern Ninewa Province. The individual has high level contacts in the Al Qaeda network, cells for foreign fighters and improvised explosive devices.
Coalition Forces detain suspected al-Qaeda senior leader in Mosul
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces detained three suspected terrorists during operations in Mosul targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders Tuesday.
Coalition Forces captured an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq leader in Mosul who is believed to have been promoted within the organization after recent Coalition operations created numerous vacancies in the terrorist leadership structure. Intelligence reports also indicate the individual is responsible for mortar and sniper attacks against Iraqi forces and a December attack against Coalition Forces. Two other suspected terrorists were also detained during the Tuesday operation.
Precision-guided munitions kills top al Qaeda leader
BAGHDAD — The top target for al Qaeda in Iraq south of Baghdad was killed July 14 in Arab Jabour by precision-guided munitions, the Excalibur.
Shortly after 12 p.m., 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, received a call that Abu Jurah and 14 anti-Iraqi forces were meeting at a house in Arab Jabour.
Abu Jurah was an AQI cell leader and was responsible for improvised explosive devices, vehicle-borne IED and indirect fire attacks on Coalition Forces in Arab Jabour.
At approximately 1:12 p.m., the house was positively identified allowing 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment to fire two Excalibur rounds destroying the meeting house.
An unmanned aerial vehicle observed persons leaving the house, loading injured individuals into a sedan and fleeing the scene.
An AH-64 Apache helicopter engaged the sedan destroying it.
Three people were observed running from the meeting house to a nearby house.
A U.S. Air Force F16 Fighting Falcon dropped two 500-pound GPS-guided bombs on the second house.
