Coalition Chronicles Recent Operations
American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 26, 2004 – A series of Combined Joint Task Force 7 news releases provided details of various recent operations in Iraq. A Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed and three others were wounded as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on their convoy in Baghdad April 25. While attempting to recover a vehicle damaged in the blast, soldiers came under small-arms attack from both sides of the road. In the ensuing firefight, a number of civilians, including children who were attempting to take cover near the damaged vehicle, were hit. Soldiers were not able to determine the extent of the casualties due to the circumstances of the attack and because civilians quickly removed the injured and dead, officials said. Anti-coalition forces conducted a series of attacks in Mosul against civilian targets April 25, killing and injuring Iraqi civilians and Iraqi police. At 9:25 a.m., a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an Iraqi police station in northern Mosul. There were no reported injuries in this attack. Five minutes later, Iraqi police reported the Shiddiq Rashan mosque in northeast Mosul was attacked by mortars or rockets. No injuries or damage were reported in that attack, but a simultaneous explosion at the Al Razy Hospital in southeastern Mosul killed two Iraqi civilians and wounded 10 others. Two more attacks took place 15 minutes later. A mortar round landed in the parking lot of the Ashour Hotel in central Mosul, killing two Iraqi civilians and injuring three others. In the second 9:45 a.m. attack, two 122 mm rockets exploded near a police station in southern Mosul. Two Iraqi police were wounded in this attack. Coalition forces found and destroyed an unexploded third rocket. The CJTF 7 statement detailing these attacks emphasized that coalition forces did not conduct any of the attacks in Mosul. "These were cowardly acts directed against Iraqi people by terrorists and criminals," the statement read. Eight 13th Corps Support Command soldiers were injured as the result of four separate attacks at various locations April 25. Five were injured in an indirect-fire attack near Taji. Another was injured when an IED struck a convoy near Dinaniayah. IED attacks near Samarra and Iskandariyah injured two other soldiers. Task Force Olympia soldiers killed one anti-coalition suspect April 25 after being fired upon by small-arms fire in the northeast Mosul's Masarif neighborhood. Two suspects in a car fired upon soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – the Stryker Brigade Combat Team by. The soldiers returned fire, killing one enemy fighter and causing the car to catch fire. The second occupant escaped on foot. Iraqi police cordoned the area and Iraqi firefighters put out the fire. Coalition soldiers found a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and two RPG rounds, as well as three AK-47 assault rifles, in the car. Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers detained 14 people wanted for anti- coalition activities, destroyed an IED and collected a variety of weapons and munitions in northern Iraq April 23. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, conducted cordon-and-search operations in the northeast neighborhood of Hashimiyah and detained 14 people wanted for planning and conducting attacks against coalition forces. IED-making materials were discovered and confiscated. On a road leading out of northern Mosul, soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, discovered an IED. Iraqi police secured the site, and the IED was destroyed. No injuries were reported. Members of the Coalition for Iraqi Unity, a citizens group in northwestern Iraq, approached soldiers of 1st Squadron, 14th Calvary west of Tall Afar, near the Syrian border. The citizens turned in 351 100 mm artillery rounds, 12 82 mm mortar rounds, 10 hand grenades, five RPG launchers and an SA-7 rocket. The same unit reported another weapons turn-in by an Iraqi citizen in Tall Afar that consisted of five 120 mm mortar rounds, 22 60 mm mortar rounds and five 60 mm mortar tubes. Two Iraqi police officers and two civilians were killed and 16 other civilians were wounded when an IED exploded outside the 1st Infantry Division base in Tikrit on April 24. Civilian ambulances and fire trucks arrived at the site of the attack and transported the wounded to local hospitals. There were reports of small-arms fire after the explosion. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, secured the site of the attack and began an investigation. No soldiers were injured in the blast. Also on April 24, Task Force Danger soldiers detained 19 anti-coalition suspects and captured three weapons caches in north central Iraq. Near Tikrit, soldiers detained 17 suspects who were loading fuses into a truck containing 30 mortar and artillery rounds. More than 2,400 more rounds were found buried nearby. Another two suspects were detained near Tikrit, and soldiers confiscated 60 mortar and artillery rounds. The same day, soldiers found and destroyed a cache of artillery rounds near Dibis.
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