Huge weapons cache unearthed in northern Iraq

Army News Service - http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/index.html ^ | Nov. 22, 2004 | Army News Service

[Enlightiator]

Weapons in this guarded pile are a sample of those in uncovered Nov. 22 in one the largest weapons caches ever found in northern Iraq.

Huge weapons cache unearthed in northern Iraq

November 22, 2004

MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Nov. 22, 2004) – Multi-national forces from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) unearthed Nov. 22 one of the largest weapons caches ever found in northern Iraq, about 45 kilometers south of Mosul in the village of Shafa’at.

During their patrol, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment discovered huge stockpiles of weapons and munitions, including: an anti-aircraft gun, 15,000 anti-aircraft rounds, 4,600 hand grenades, 144 VOG-17M anti-personnel grenade launchers, 25 SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, 44 SA-7 battery packs, 20 guided missile packs, 21 120mm mortar rounds, two 120mm mortar tubes, 10 122mm rockets, six 152mm artillery rounds and two 57mm artillery rounds.

Soldiers also discovered a building full of explosive-making materials. The three-arce site is secure and still under investigation with more weapons and munitions discoveries expected, Task Force Olympia officials said.

On Nov. 21, operations in Mosul nabbed a number of suspected insurgents. Iraqi Police Commandos and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division detained a number of people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities as operations continued in Mosul to eliminate remaining anti-Iraqi forces in the region.

Special Iraqi police commandos from the Ministry of the Interior in Baghdad conducted a cordon and search in central Mosul and detained 23 people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against ISF and MNF. The suspects are in Iraqi custody undergoing questioning.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals at a traffic control point after Soldiers spotted the individuals tossing hand grenades and weapons out of their vehicle as they approached the TCP.

MNF conducted a cordon and search in western Mosul and detained three suspected members of a terrorist cell. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.

Multi-National Forces and Iraqi Security Forces continue to root out the remaining pockets of sporadic resistance, officials said. They said joint operations between the Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces will continue as necessary to maintain law and order in the region.

(Editor’s note: Information provided by the Task Force Olympia, Multinational Brigade-Northwest public affairs office.)

 

[Enlightiator]

A good days work, thats a lot of weapons out of the hands of jihadists. I also found this part noteworthy:

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals at a traffic control point after Soldiers spotted the individuals tossing hand grenades and weapons out of their vehicle as they approached the TCP.

Not suicide bombers at least... maybe hunters with bad eyesight, hince the grenades?

[Slyfox]

Weapons of Mass Destruction????

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

It's out there somewhere....

[Rokke]

"25 SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, 44 SA-7 battery packs, 20 guided missile packs"

Wow. That alone is a good haul. Outstanding work.

[TASMANIANRED]

That will make a lovely explosion when they detonate it.

[digger48]

Yeah, but....but.....they're not really WMD's so they don't count. nyah...nyah,nyah....nyah,nyah.......nyah

[Paladin2]

At least a mass of weapons destruction in the not too distant future.

[Brilliant]

"Editor’s note: Information provided by the Task Force Olympia, Multinational Brigade-Northwest public affairs office."

Is that, like, supposed to be a disclaimer? They accept BS like the Burkett memos on faith, but the U.S. military can't be trusted.

[eagle11]

Beautiful! More post election good news.

[TADSLOS]

Iraq is just one big ammo dump.

[Enlightiator]

Right, the SA7's alone are a good find, they're bad news for choppers:

http://216.26.163.62/2003/ss_terror_11_09.html

[PISANO]

These are probably the MISSING weapons and ammo that we LET DISAPPEAR right after the fall of Baghdad. < /sarcasm >

[Nachum]

Great work.

[JustaCowgirl]

Don't want to speak too soon, but does it seem to anyone else that the number of car bombs has gone WAY down in the last 5-6 days. Like maybe they can't put together the car bombs anymore because their factories are inoperable?

[Enlightiator]

Hmm, looks like you can buy those SA7s all over Iraq - check this story from 2003 out:

Iraqi entrepreneur takes down missiles

[mark502inf]

This is an official Army news release and they are simply listing the orginating public affairs office at the bottom of the release.

[Enlightiator]

I think that the explosives are probably around, but the "insurgents" are surging toward the exit doors in Mosul and Fallujah. We are doing exactly the right thing in those cities, clearing the terrorists out, then clearing the weapons and explosives out. Its a pattern for success that I bet we will be seeing in the months to come. Great work by our soldiers.

[eyespysomething]

Mass destruction weapons.

[2ThumbsUp]

Thanks for the post Enlightiator. Sarin Gas is a WMD...
Enough to kill thousands was found in a small case.

For those of you who want pictures:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/phantom_fury/flash.htm

[RaceBannon]

these are not WMD, in fact this is about what we fired in 3 days in Fallujah with the exception of the SA-7, that is an anti-aircraft missile.

This is not that impressive a collection to me, this is a company's daily ration in a fight, with some of these amounts no more than a single battle like the mortar rounds and the artilary rounds.

Those 122mm rockets need a launcher, was there one?

The only impressive amount of ammo ws the AAA rounds, 15,000...they mount ZS-U23 and ZSU-24's on trucks these days, unless these were 57mm rounds...