Good News From The War On Terror 8/17
13 terrorists killed, 12 suspects detained east of Tarmiyah
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces killed 13 terrorists and detained 12 suspected terrorists east of Tarmiyah Friday during an operation targeting an al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader who provides guidance to senior terrorist leaders.
As Coalition Forces approached the targeted area, they immediately received heavy small arms fire from several buildings in the area. The ground forces returned fire, but when the enemy did not yield, Coalition Forces called for close air support. Enemy fire continued from other areas and ground forces used small arms and rocket launchers to return fire.
Still under fire, Coalition Forces moved to secure individual buildings. Despite the ground forces’ repeated calls to come out of the building, hostile occupants of one building refused to comply. The assault force called for them to send out any noncombatants to be taken to a safe area, but again the armed terrorists did not comply. Coalition Forces escalated their level of force, including using airborne firepower against the enemy, until four armed terrorists emerged from the building firing at the ground forces. The four terrorists, including a female wearing a ski mask and wielding a rifle, were killed by aircraft and sniper fire. Secondary explosions erupted from the building after it was engaged by the aircraft, indicating explosives stored inside.
The ground forces, still taking fire from enemy positions, called in an additional force to help repel the terrorists’ attack. The assault force continued to secure individual buildings as aircraft and additional units suppressed enemy fighters with small arms fire. Coalition Forces assessed that aircraft and sniper fire killed nine more terrorists in the fighting. Additionally, despite Coalition Forces’ appeals for the terrorists to send out women and children to be taken to safety, a boy was killed in a building with an armed terrorist who had engaged the ground forces.
The ground forces detained 12 suspected terrorists during the operation.
14 suspects detained for ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces detained 14 suspected terrorists Thursday and Friday around central and northern Iraq during continuing operations to remove senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Coalition Forces conducted three precision raids in and around Baghdad. Thursday, ground forces captured an individual suspected of leading an al-Qaeda in Iraq car bombing cell. Friday, Coalition Forces captured a suspected terrorist with ties to senior terrorist leaders in Baghdad. Near Taji, ground forces captured an alleged weapons facilitator working for al-Qaeda in Iraq’s emir of the northern belts around Baghdad and detained two additional suspects.
In Salah ad Din province, Coalition Forces also targeted senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq during three operations Thursday and Friday. During a precision raid Thursday west of Balad, Coalition Forces detained one suspected terrorist while targeting an individual associated with the al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of northern Iraq who allegedly facilitates the movement of terrorist leaders. Five suspected terrorists were detained during operations Friday near Balad and Samarra targeting the al-Qaeda in Iraq communications network and an al-Qaeda leader known to conduct car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion.
Based on information from suspects detained earlier in the week, Coalition Forces conducted an operation Friday targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders and their associates in Mosul. The ground forces detained three individuals with alleged ties to the terrorist leaders.
Weapons recovered, suspect seized in raid
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — Soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division captured one suspected insurgent and recovered a weapons cache during a raid in eastern Baghdad Aug. 16.
During Operation Chesterfield in the New Baghdad District, Soldiers of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment based out of Fort Riley, Kan., and attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, joined with their Iraqi counterparts in capturing the suspected insurgent, recovering two AK-47s, two pistols and 900,000 Iraqi dinar.
The suspect is being held for further questioning.
The capture comes as insurgents have stepped up their activity against Iraqi civilians and police officers. U.S. and Iraqi forces have responded by driving into insurgent strongholds and setting up combat outposts and joint security stations as part of the Baghdad Security Plan to secure the capital.
Gunfight ends with release of hostages, two insurgents dead
TAJI, Iraq – After returning from a family member’s funeral, four women and six small children were kidnapped by armed men wearing ski masks on a Baghdad street on May 1. The women and children were taken after having to witness the execution of their male family members.
They were held for more than a month’s time, during which the women endured daily rapings and beatings and were constantly threatened with beheading, one of the women later said in a statement given to U.S. Special Forces.
On June 1, their ordeal came to an end as Iraqi Security Forces and a U.S. Special Forces team freed the hostages during an air assault raid that targeted an al Qaeda in Iraq kidnapping cell south of Balad.
The operation, called Operation Falkirk, was a combined operation conducted with U.S. Special Forces Soldiers and Iraqi Army Scouts to locate and detain suspected terrorists in Balad with ties to the kidnapping of two U.S. Soldiers taken captive after their combat patrol was ambushed May 12.
The raid resulted in a sustained firefight that left one U.S. Special Forces Soldier wounded, two insurgents dead, and the primary target of the operation captured and seriously wounded.
During the operation, the Special Forces team and their Iraqi counterparts conducted the late-night air assault against three remote houses reportedly sheltering the terrorist group. Shortly after beginning the assault, the team came under heavy, small-arms fire from terrorists inside one of the houses. One Special Forces Soldier was hit and evacuated. Other members of the team immediately assaulted the house and overwhelmed the terrorists.
When the gunfire ended, two insurgents were dead, one of them in the stairwell leading to the roof where the women and children were discovered, the team sergeant said. At that time, the women and children were believed to be the family members of the insurgents, not victims of mental and physical abuse by their captors.
As the women and children were being escorted down from the roof, the sergeant said he noticed something didn’t seem right.
The other insurgent was also in open view as they proceeded through the house. But again, the sergeant said, “the women and children gave no reaction.”
U.S. Special Forces team members began questioning some of the women, but soon received word that the house was wired with explosives. The team immediately evacuated everyone from the house. During the evacuation, the team received word that another terrorist had fled the area on foot during the initial assault. The fleeing insurgent had entered an adjacent canal and was hiding in thick reeds several hundred meters from the original objective.
Members of the Special Forces team, together with Iraqi soldiers, entered the canal in pursuit of the fleeing terrorist.
In chest-deep water, a Special Forces sergeant eventually located the hiding terrorist. The terrorist then lunged at the sergeant and was shot in the chest by an Iraqi Scout providing security for the sergeant. The assault force immediately pulled the individual from the water and rendered first-aid, saving his life.
When the assault force returned to the target house, they discovered the women and children had run away, stated the team sergeant. It wasn’t known until the following morning, when local villagers thanked the team for freeing the captives, that the women and children had been held hostage for more than a month.
Upon removing this specific terrorist cell from the area, the team began to receive numerous reports from local Iraqis that detailed the extent of this group’s activities, the sergeant further relayed. The group was active for more than two years and responsible for the murder of dozens of innocent Iraqis, including women, children, and infants. They were also reportedly responsible for improvised explosive device activities and the murder and beheading of at least 20 Iraqi Police.
Although the original mission of Operation Falkirk had a considerably different objective, the Iraqi forces and the U.S Special Forces team said they are proud of the mission they were a part of.
MND-B aircrews respond to checkpoint attack, kill four insurgents
BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division-Baghdad attack helicopter crews killed four insurgents at approximately 9 p.m., Aug. 15, north of Baghdad after the insurgents attacked a civilian infrastructure security checkpoint.
Apache crews from the 1st “Attack” Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, arrived on station at about 8 p.m. and observed about 150 civilian security personnel defending the neighborhood near the checkpoint.
The combination of civilian security personnel, the Apache crews and ground forces from Troop D, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Div., caused some of the insurgents to flee in vehicles.
Up to six insurgents were unable to rejoin the vehicles and fled on foot to a nearby house, where they forced women and children to leave the house and provide a barrier between themselves and the Coalition Forces.
Ground forces and civilian security personnel moved to the house, and a local sheik confirmed that the five insurgents in the house were involved in the attack on the checkpoint.
About 15 minutes later, the Apache crews observed the five insurgents fleeing the house on foot.
The ground forces from Troop D, 1-82 FA, cleared the Apaches to engage the insurgents, and the aircrews fired on them – killing four. One insurgent was detained by the ground forces and a civilian security hostage was released.
