Posted on 03/05/2007 4:48:41 PM PST by SandRat
ARAB JABOUR -- A coalition assessment following an air strike in Arab Jabour on Saturday led to the rescue of four Iraqi citizens and the uncovering of a terrorist weapons cache.
Four Iraqi citizens were liberated from a building near the site of the air strike, officials said. One of the hostages told military officials the terrorists holding them fled immediately after the air strike.
All four hostages were treated at the scene for various injuries. One of the hostages said he had been held captive for 50 days.
At the site of the air strike, ground forces also found remnants of an anti-aircraft heavy machine gun known as a DShK, as well as rocket-propelled grenades and grenade launchers. A DShK tripod was found dug into the ground along the Tigris River, along with spent ammunition cartridges.
Coalition forces called in the air strike after they began receiving small-arms fire from several armed men across the Tigris River and were unable to safely subdue enemy fire. Two precision-guided bombs destroyed a small structure and killed seven terrorists hiding inside.
A large secondary explosion was noted after the initial bombs were dropped on the target, officials said, indicating the presence of explosive material within the structure.
Elsewhere, soldiers from Task Force 1-319 and the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, detained more than 50 insurgents during three days of operations focused on terrorist cells in Abu Ajeel, Wynot, and Owja near Tikrit in Salah ad Din.
Paratroopers from Task Force Loyalty’s Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, detained more than 40 personnel in the Abu Ajeel area with assistance from an Iraqi emergency services unit and the Iraqi army.
The operation disrupted a roadside-bomb cell that has been operating in the area as well as detaining an insurgent cell leader who has been spearheading attacks against coalition and Iraqi security forces in recent months, officials said.
Soldiers from Task Force Loyalty’s Battery B detained more than 10 insurgents involved with financing and executing attacks on coalition forces in the towns of Wynot and Owja. During the raids, members of Battery B engaged numerous insurgents, killing three who were poised to conduct a roadside ambush on coalition forces during the operation.
In Babil province on March 2, an Iraqi special weapons and tactics team, in conjunction with coalition advisors, captured the suspected leader of a rogue militia cell.
The suspect allegedly controls a roadside-bomb cell responsible for attacks against Iraqi civilians and coalition forces. He also is implicated in six roadside attacks that have resulted in the deaths of three coalition forces soldiers since December and is involved in the murder of Iraqi civilians working with coalition forces.
Iraqi forces detained five additional suspected cell members for questioning.
In Fallujah, the Iraqi police captured three suspected members of an al Qaeda-linked insurgent network during operations with coalition advisors March 2.
One suspect is believed to have participated in a recent attack on the Saqlawiyah police station. The other suspects are implicated in recording insurgent attacks against coalition forces on video and selling them to an Iraqi television station. The videos are broadcast to support al Qaeda’s effort to recruit more insurgents and incite attacks against Iraqis civilians and coalition forces.
Iraqi forces detained one additional suspect for questioning.
Following the discovery of a massive weapons cache Feb. 26 near the village of Maalef, Iraqi army soldiers from the 2nd Iraqi Army Division, supported by the 5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment troops, discovered more illegal weapons near the village of Tortia on March 1.
The cache was found inside two large freezers and four large barrels, and contained rounds of assorted small-arms ammunition, rockets, mortar rounds, fuses, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, grenades, projectile fuses, mortar tubes, high-explosive rounds, smoke rounds, TNT blocks, blasting caps, propellant and communication gear.
Coalition forces explosive ordnance disposal teams were on site conducting an assessment of the find and preparing the items for transportation and eventual reduction.
I like that part. Oh yeah, and the hostages being rescued was cool too. Hopefully they have some good intel from the hostages.
information not given by the drive by press, great operations this was. Untie their hands and watch the enemy die.
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