Free Republic

I wish I could have been at the KDOT Operations meeting, I am ready to be back home in Kansas. Last week the Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team that I work for held a Ramadan Iftar dinner for 330 Kirkuki dignitaries and 350 body guards, military, and other security staff. During the month of Ramadan Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset which means not eating or drinking all day. At sundown the Imams from each Mosque broadcast the call to prayer and that signals the time everyone can drink and eat. I tried to fast for the first week, because my...

Maj. Peter Colt, 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion, plays with young Iraqi children in Gaydah village, which is in the Kirkuk province of northeastern Iraq. Colt, along with 2nd Battalion, 22nd Inf. Regt. Soldiers, met with the village leaders recently to discuss developments and projects that will benefit the area. Photo by Spc. Jason Jordan. KIRKUK — In the southern Rishad valley of Kirkuk province lies the remote village of Gaydah, located several miles off the nearest main road and even further from the nearest substantial city or district. Already accustomed to seclusion, the village residents were surprised when Soldiers from...

Bombers kill 50 in Iraq, wound nearly 250 BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three female suicide bombers killed 28 people and wounded 92 in Baghdad on Monday as Shi'ite pilgrims flooded into the Iraqi capital for a major religious event, police said. In the northern oil city of Kirkuk a bomb killed at least 22 people and wounded 150 at a protest against a controversial provincial elections law, Iraqi health and security officials said. The U.S. military said initial reports showed the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. The blasts marked one of the bloodiest days in months and underscored...

KIRKUK, Iraq – Kirkuk Provincial Rule of Law judges and lawyers met with their key provincial and city police leadership during the inaugural Criminal Justice Conference at Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk May 29.“The security gains of the region are evident -- over a 70 percent decrease in violent attacks against ISF, Kirkuk citizens and the Coalition forces. As a result, we can now begin our transition from a form of martial law to rule of law,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division deputy commander.The agenda of the meeting included recent case studies that focused...

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2008 – More than 300 former members of “Sons of Iraq” graduated to Iraqi policemen during a ceremony at Kirkuk Police Academy on May 15. A Kirkuk Police Academy instructor straightens the beret of an Iraqi police recruit before a graduation ceremony, May 15, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Margaret C. Nelson, 1st Battalion, 10th Mountain Division   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The students graduated after eight weeks of training here. “The Kirkuk province has shown tremendous progress in the last year. Events like this prove we are taking the necessary steps...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2008 – Violence in Iraq’s Kirkuk province has dropped by 70 percent, and coalition and Iraqi forces have “virtually destroyed” al-Qaida in Iraq in the region, the commander of the U.S. brigade combat team in the area said today. Video Army Col. David Paschal, commander of 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, said that as security improves in the strategic northern province, changes are happening in the economy and in governance that help cement the security progress in place. Four developments have helped the battle against insurgents in the Rhode Island-sized province of 1.5 million, Paschal told...

KIRKUK — Kirkuk reached a significant milestone as it transitioned the last of its traffic control points from Iraqi army control to the Iraqi police last week, at a check point just north of the city. Governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa, the provincial governor, Maj. Gen. Jamal Thaker Bakr, the provincial director of police, Brig. Gen. Omar Aref Waly Khatab, the emergency services unit commander, and Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, deputy commander, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, toured the TCP with the Iraqi police to greet residents as they entered the first city in Iraq to be under the full operational...

TIKRIT, Iraq – Iraqi Soldiers discovered three weapon caches of various munitions and explosives northeast of Kirkuk, April 10. The caches included 60mm Chinese mortars, 82mm Chinese mortars, 57mm Chinese projectiles, 120mm Chinese mortar high explosives, 60mm Iraqi mortars, more than 50 85mm Iraqi rocket motors, 105mm Iraqi projectiles, 40mm projected fuses, 130 Russian projectiles, Russian fuses and an 85mm Russian projectile. The explosives and weapons were likely to be used against Coalition forces, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi citizens. This is the third large cache found in this area within a week. The cache was in an area previously...

My work here in Kirkuk, Iraq is falling into a normal routine that I, and probably everyone else who is aware of my current U.S. State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) employment, would not have thought possible. The normal Iraqi work week is Sunday through Thursday. On those days, I travel to the KGB (Kirkuk Government Building) to work with local Iraqis. Friday and Saturday, I stay back at the PRT office to work with all of the PRT staff. The PRT staff is divided into several smaller sections focusing on infrastructure, rule of law, education, economics, agriculture, governance and...

KIRKUK, Iraq – The 15th Iraqi Army Brigade detained 12 enemy personnel during an intelligence-driven operation in Hafriyah, southeast of Kirkuk, Iraq, March 31.During an IA brigade unilateral operation, Iraqi Army soldiers conducted a cordon and search to capture or kill the Al Qaeda in Iraq cell responsible for the March 23 attack on 3rd Battalion, 15th Iraqi Army Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division. The 15th Iraqi Army Brigade also discovered a cache during the operation that contained 400 30mm rounds, 83 57mm rockets, seven propane tanks, six blocks of C-4, 25 250-pound bombs and five 130mm projectiles as well...

Senior armed group commander surrenders to police in Kirkuk Kirkuk - Voices of Iraq Monday , 31 /03 /2008 Time 10:05:40 Kirkuk, Mar 31, (VOI) - A senior fighter of an armed group surrendered on Monday to security force in Kirkuk, a police source said. "One of the most wanted persons surrendered to security forces in Haweija, south-west Kirkuk," a Kirkuk police source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq – (VOI). The source identified him as Salah Hassan, a senior member in Ansar al-Sunna, one of the armed groups working under the mantra of the self-named Iraq's Islamic...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2008 – On his way home from working in his family’s field near Kirkuk, Iraq, Rahmey didn’t see the hidden improvised explosive device until it was too late. Soldiers and U.S. soldiers load an Iraqi teenager injured by an improvised explosive device onto a medical evacuation helicopter near Kirkuk, Iraq, March 27, 2008. The soldiers are assigned to the 10th Mountain Division's Company C, 2nd Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Staggering for home after the blast, the 13-year-old Iraqi boy had no way to know that his life would be saved by...

1/25/2008 - KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- As many parents anxiously await the next phone call from their sons and daughters fighting the war on terrorism in Southwest Asia, one mother journeyed across the Atlantic to not only see her child, but also to replace him on the front line. Staff Sgt. Tammi Johnson, a reservist with the 507th Security Forces Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., arrived to Kirkuk Air Base Jan. 20 and will receive a complete week of training from her son, Senior Airman Derrick Johnson, before he heads back to the U.S. Atop a...

.."8 tons of...toxic agricultural chemicals belonging to the Baathist regime"

An improvised explosive device emplacer digs a hole for his explosives during a practical exercise conducted at the KirkukPolice Academy. Photo by Staff Sgt. Margaret Nelson, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. KIRKUK — “Upon entering our academy…you are no longer Turkman, Arab, Christian, Kurd…you are an Iraqi,� Col. Samir Murshed Khushid, commandant of the Kirkuk Police Academy and former Peshmerga Soldier, said. He tells his recruits that they are there to serve their fellow citizen. “Protect them: ethnicity does not matter.� That sentiment is built into the screening process. Ministry of Interior (MoI) standards are based on the ethnic make-up...

KIRKUK, Iraq — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit Tuesday to the city that Iraq's Kurds call their Jerusalem, an oil-rich territory claimed by many where the United States says it sees new signs of cooperation and progress. Rice was seeing members of a civilian-military reconstruction unit based in Kirkuk and meeting provincial politicians of all stripes. She was seeing Iraq's central leadership later in Baghdad. Such reconstruction units were expanded along with the escalation of U.S. forces President Bush ordered this year. Sunni Arabs ended a yearlong political boycott earlier this month in Kirkuk — the...

Gulf Region North district encompasses 66,000 square miles in seven of Iraq’s 18 provinces, north and east of Baghdad. Its four strategic cities are Mosul, Samarra, Kirkuk and Baqubah. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has project and construction management responsibility for the Iraq Reconstruction Program; and it assists Iraq’s provincial governments as they assume responsibility for managing their infrastructure development, and the capability to sustain it. COB SPEICHER — In the city of Samarra, Iraq, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed 40 of the 45 planned projects in the Iraq Reconstruction Program. “We’re joining the Iraqi people...

In Iraq Friday, a car bomb killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more in the northern Kurdish city of Kirkuk. But U.S. military officials are praising the performance of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, after hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims marched to a shrine Thursday, without any major violence. VOA's Cindy Saine reports from Washington. Baghdad was largely calm Friday, as many of the Shi'ite pilgrims headed home. The pilgrims had converged on Baghdad's Kazimiyah district for an annual observance at the tomb of a revered imam. At a news briefing from Baghdad, U.S. Army Colonel John...

TAJI – Iraqi Security Forces conducted an early morning raid Aug. 1 in Kirkuk that resulted in the capture of a suspected key leader of the terrorist criminal network of al-Qaeda in Iraq.The targeted suspect is believed to be responsible for a vehicle born improvised explosive device attack in Kirkuk on July 16 that killed more than 85 civilians and injured more than 180.  With U.S. Special Forces as advisors, the Iraqi Security Forces also detained four suspects in addition to the primary target.”This successful mission is another demonstration of the committment and resolve to stopping violent criminal elements and...

U.S. Army combat medics, Spc. Aimee Collver (foreground) and Spc. Vanessa Bolognese (background), both with the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Personal Security Detachment, help pull security during a mission in Amerli, Iraq, July 11, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Mike Alberts Female Combat Medics Fight Every Day, Earn Respect Missions find success with support of dedicated female soldiers. By Spc. Mike Alberts 3rd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs KIRKUK, Iraq, Aug. 1, 2007 — Temperatures exceeded 115 degrees during the five-hour mission in Amerli that day. More than 50 soldiers were on site and...

KIRKUK, Iraq -   Sgt. Matthew Hicks, 209 Aviation Support Battalion, 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 3IBCT, fires his second of three shots at the small arms range competition during an Independence Day celebration at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, July 4. A 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team Soldier reaches back to strike a hit during an Independence Day Dodge Ball competition at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, July 4. A 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team Soldier "lets it fly" at his Dodge Ball...

A Shiite newspaper published in Baghdad reported Tuesday that Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani had turned down a 2-billion- US dollar offer from the Saudis in return for giving up demands to have Kurdish oil-rich of Kirkuk as the capital of Kurdistan. Al-Bianh al-Jadidah newspaper said that the Saudi offer was made to Barzani and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih when they visited Saudi Arabia last month. The Saudis asked for a 10-year freeze on the Kurdish demand to incorporate Kirkuk in the north of Iraq into Kurdistan autonomous region. The newspaper said that an Iraqi government source, who did...

KIRKUK, Iraq - Lt. Hiwa Raouf Abdul is not supposed to be in Kirkuk. The oil-rich city, which many fear is teetering on the brink of civil war, is off-limits to Kurdish Peshmerga militia members. And yet, on Tuesday, the slender, 26-year-old Peshmerga officer breezed through one checkpoint after the next on his way into Kirkuk, exchanging waves and salutes with Iraqi army soldiers and policemen as he rode with a truckload of Peshmerga gunmen. Abdul is stationed in the nearby Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, where the Peshmerga enforce strict security through a series of checkpoints, and his visit to...

A twin bombing left 11 dead in northern Iraq and U.S. aircraft went in action Saturday against Sunni insurgents west of Baghdad, as Iraqi officials claimed early success in the campaign to restore order in the capital. The bombers struck in a Kurdish neighborhood of the oil city of Kirkuk, about 180 miles north of Baghdad, as streets were filled with cars and pedestrians ...Although the Baghdad operation has been in full swing only four days, Iraqi authorities have already begun heralding it as a major success. Iraqi spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi told reporters that "crimes and terrorist attacks"...

Senior Airman Jason Al-Jehani moves pallets in the cargo yard at Kirkuk Regional Air Base, Iraq, in January. Airman Al-Jehani was one of about 1,000 Army paratroopers who were airdropped into northern Iraq March 26, 2003. He is now a reservist assigned to the 39th Aerial Port Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. Airman Al-Jehani is an air transportation journeyman deployed to the 506th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Kevin Williams) by Tech. Sgt. Kevin Williams 506th Air Expeditionary Group 2/13/2007 - KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNEWS) -- Sitting in the cold cargo bay of a C-17...

Iraqi Arabs revolt over cash offer to quit Kirkuk By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 1:47am GMT 09/02/2007 Ethnic tensions in Kirkuk have escalated after Arabs were offered payments to leave the strategic Iraqi city before a referendum that is expected to approve its incorporation into Kurdish territory. Kirkuk's oil wealth makes the city of 700,000 one of Iraq's greatest strategic prizes. Well before the fall of Saddam Hussein, Kurds declared their intention to claim a city they describe as their "Jerusalem". Iraqi Arab residents of the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk shout slogans as they demonstrate...

ANKARA, Turkey: A Kurdish group denounced a conference on the future of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, accusing the organizers Monday of bias — a harbinger of the tensions that lie ahead in the fight for control of the oil-rich city. Ethnically mixed Kirkuk is at the center of a struggle for power among Arabs, ethnic Turkmen and the region's Kurds, who claim the area as their own and hope it eventually will be included in an enclave of self-rule in northern Iraq. "We, the Kurds, believe that Kirkuk is a city of Kurdistan," Bahros Galali, the Ankara representative for...

Iraq's main northern oil distribution center was in flames after two mortar shells landed on it Monday night, an official with the Northern Oil Company said. The massive fire continued to burn despite efforts by the U.S. army, Iraqi army and civil defense brigades to put it out, he added. A huge fire was visible from the nearby city of Kirkuk. "This is the first time this installation has been attacked with such force," said the official, who would not reveal the extent of the damage or whether pumping had ceased. The station is responsible for regulating the flow...

A local Iraqi unpacks medical supplies at the Kirkuk General Hospital. The medical aid, supplied by Coalition Forces, will be distributed amongst the hospital and the local clinics. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony White Kirkuk Hospital, Clinics Receive Medical Supplies Medical Supplies in short supply were delivered for distribution throughout the Kirkuk area. By U.S. Army Sgt. Tony White TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 21, 2006 -- Coalition Forces delivered medical supplies and equipment to the Kirkuk General Hospital Nov. 12. The supplies will be distributed among the hospital and clinics in the Kirkuk area. Medical supplies in shortage, such...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Government officials and Coalition Force members celebrated the reopening of two schools in Kirkuk Oct. 12. The renovations were part of a broader civil affairs program and will serve as a model for other area schools. Musalla Secondary School students proudly hung their country and school flags on the newly-painted walls of their refurbished school in preparation for a ceremony attended by local officials. The secondary school and a city elementary school are the first of six renovations under the program, which includes construction of new science labs with computers. Students can also look forward to new...

KIRUK — It was only a few months ago that a terrorist incident in this northern Iraq city destroyed most of the stock of a local pharmacy, leaving a family-owned business in tatters and depriving the community of much needed medication. In a spark of hope for moving beyond the insurgency, however, the pharmacy and the services it provides to the community will soon be fully restored. In mid-July, the family took out a loan – the equivalent of $3,000 in Iraqi dinars – to replenish the stock and rebuild their business. Small as it may sound, the amount means...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 7/22/06 - Beirut, Rmeileh, Nabatiyeh, Maarjyounat, Zrariyeh, Chebaa Farms, Haifa, Nahariya, Israel, Avivim, Shlomi, Zaura, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Baquba, Haditha, Kirkuk, Muqdadiyah, Sadr City, Basra, Iraq, Aurora, Colorado Israeli Response to Hamas and Hizb'allah terror using Iranian and Syrian technology BREAKING: Beirut - U.S. Navy sailors and Marines rescue American adults and children out of Lebanon BREAKING: Beirut - southern suburbs of Hizb'Allah pounded BREAKING: Rmeileh, Lebanon - destroyed bridge, attacked by Israeli warplane missiles BREAKING: Nabatiyeh - precision retaliation by Israeli warplanes BREAKING: Maarjyounat - precision retaliation against terror BREAKING: Zrariyeh -...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni groups complained Saturday that one of their top religious leaders was detained by American troops in Tikrit for several hours, while the U.S. military said three soldiers from the same division were killed in separate incidents. The deaths of the three soldiers from the Multi-National Division in Baghdad raised to 15 the number of U.S. servicemembers who were killed or were found dead this past week. One soldier was killed Saturday and the other two Friday. A soldier was killed Saturday by a bomb during a foot patrol south of Baghdad. On Friday, one soldier was...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two car bombs targeting police exploded within a span of 30 minutes in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 15, police said. The first explosion was a parked car bomb targeting a police patrol Tuesday morning in the city center. Ten people, including two policemen and eight civilians, were killed and nine people, including a police colonel, were wounded in the attack, Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said.

KIRKUK, Iraq – Bastogne Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division saved the life of an insurgent near Kirkuk, Iraq , May 23 after the grenade the insurgent threw exploded on him, causing severe injuries to his lower extremities. Iraqi soldiers were manning their post in Hawijah, a city just west of Kirkuk , when a man approached and tossed a grenade at their position. The grenade bounced off the roof of the structure the soldiers were in, falling back to the ground and exploding, severely cutting and burning the man. Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st...

A crackdown on black market oil in the oil rich city of Kirkuk has uncovered a smuggling chain, the authorities say. “We are going to fight the smugglers in the same way we fight the terrorists,” said Brigadier Sherzad Mufri, the city’s police chief. “They (the smugglers) are draining and ruing the country’s economy,” he said. The government blames fuel shortages to widespread smuggling of oil products. Mufri said large quantities of fuel were confiscated and a number of arrests were made. He did not elaborate. Iraq, sitting on massive oil reserves, currently imports fuel from neighboring countries to meet...

Eight mass graves containing around 1 000 bodies have been found near Iraq's northern oil hub of Kirkuk, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) announced on Thursday. "Most of the victims were Kurds, as well as some Christians and Turcoman, who lived in these two majority Kurdish villages," the PUK said in a statement. The graves were found in the villages of Al-Asri and Tubazawa, west of Kirkuk. On Tuesday, a local religious organisation said two mass graves dating from the time of Saddam had been found near the southern city of Nasiriyah.

KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, March 20, 2006) – Iraqi Police and Bastogne Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division captured two terrorists Saturday after an improvised explosive device detonated on a combined patrol near Kirkuk, damaging one of the patrol vehicles. The Bastogne Soldiers from two 101st Airborne battalions detained 46 suspected insurgents during numerous cordon and search missions with Iraqi Security Forces in Kirkuk and Hawijah, Iraq, last week. IED suspects nabbed In the IED attack Saturday, Soldiers and policemen avoided injury, officials reported. The troops immediately searched the area, capturing the two suspects. Mariwan Rahim, who came up...

KIRKUK, Iraq, MARCH 2, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Iraqi Catholics are taking up a collection for the reconstruction of the destroyed Samarra mosque, revealed Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk. The gesture of solidarity comes in the wake of the Jan. 29 attacks against two churches in Kirkuk, which claimed the lives of a 13-year-old acolyte, Fadi Raad Elias, and other Catholics. Those attacks were linked to the Western publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed. "We are not facing civil war; it would be the end of Iraq and no one wants this," said Archbishop Sako. "Iraqis are aware that Saddam Hussein abused them,"...

KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, Feb. 21, 2006) ¡V Iraqi and U.S. Soldiers combined efforts Monday, capturing four known insurgents and unearthing a network of 15 weapons caches during a combined operation west of Kirkuk. The operation began with an Iraqi-led cordon and search of a village known to be a safe haven for insurgent and terrorist cells responsible for attacks on oil pipelines and coalition convoys in the area. With troops from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division providing security outside the village and U.S. aircraft overhead, soldiers of the 2nd Iraqi Army Brigade moved in. Their...

"You are exactly right, and let me tell you one thing: those people, who say Iraq is not ready for democracy, are racists. They are absolute racists! They are saying that the Iraqi people are neither intelligent enough nor mature enough to be able to experience democracy."

Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division pull security while the rest of their company conducts a cordon and search for a suspected insurgent as part of a Brigade-size raid in their area of operations. The battalion was responsible for the city of Kirkuk. Spc. Barbara Ospina • Printer-friendly version • E-mail this article • Iraqi brigade destroys terrorist hideouts near Kirkuk February 3, 2006 TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Feb. 3, 2006) – Soldiers of 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division took another step toward independent operations Wednesday, as they conducted a brigade-level...

I think most of you have seen the disturbing results of the elections after the commission completed counting 90% of the votes. I think the announcement was due to pressures on the commission which also chose to show the results of the Sunni provinces apparently to calm the Accord Front down a bit as the Front achieved good results in those provinces. Today we heard that a delegation of Hachim al-Hasani (chairman of the National Assembly), Mowafaq al-Rubai’i (national security advisor) and Barham Salih (planning minister, a Kurd) went to the Accord Front to talk to them and convince them...

12/8/2005 - KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- When the faucet comes on and water begins swirling in the sink and into the drain, it is actually beginning a never-ending journey. The water used by troops here and at Forward Operating Base Warrior circles in a never ending loop that, without the oversight of several guardsmen, might not go so smoothly. “We treat more than 100,000 gallons of waste water each day,” said Master Sgt, Bruce Larrabee, senior operator in charge of waste water treatment for the 506th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron here. The sergeant deployed from Pease Air National...

12/8/2005 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- More than five months, 8,000 miles and countless prayers led to an unlikely reunion at a Colorado animal sanctuary. Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana and Maj. (Dr.) Paul Morton first met June 25 in Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq -- a hot summer day the major described simply as chaotic. They met again Dec. 2 on a cold winter day in the relative calm of the Black Forest Animal Sanctuary in Monument, Colo. At Kirkuk Sergeant Dana, a former 21st Security Forces Squadron dog handler, hovered near death. An improvised explosive device detonated...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 5, 2005) – Iraqi and U.S. forces captured more than 50 suspected terrorists in operations in northern and central Iraq Dec. 1, 2. Captured in Kirkuk During operations Dec. 2, a large group of suspected terrorists were captured by 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division northwest of Kirkuk. The Soldiers were conducting a routine patrol near an abandoned bunker when they observed 15 men digging around the bunker searching for weapons. The patrol detained the men for questioning. Ar Ruashid raid success Nine suspected terrorists were detained in Ar Ruashid Friday afternoon...

Kirkuk combats corrupt police, wayward force Top cop unveils point system to discipline unruly department By Anita Powell, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Wednesday, November 30, 2005 KIRKUK, Iraq — The Kirkuk police department, by everyone’s admission, has a few problems. Few of the nearly 3,000 policemen in this bustling northern Iraq city, regularly show up for work or do patrols, says the police chief. Many have been seen taking their police vehicles home for personal use. Locals say they have little trust in the city’s police corps. But the police chief, Maj. Gen. Sherko Shaler, says he has a...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2005 – Soldiers from Multinational Division Central South captured 20 men suspected of terrorism in northern Iraq's Babil province today, military officials reported. Soldiers also seized machine guns, ammunition and other equipment. Elsewhere, U.S. soldiers discovered more than 2,700 mortar rounds near an abandoned Iraqi army base south of Kirkuk Nov. 27. Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, and explosive ordnance disposal experts began the task of unearthing the weapons from a mound in a field. Iraqi and U.S. forces are securing the site and preparing to excavate the rest of...

Kirkuk - Iraqi police said on Saturday they have smashed an al-Qaeda-linked cell plotting an imminent assassination attempt against the chief judge trying deposed leader Saddam Hussein. "We arrested 12 members of a cell linked to the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda during a dawn raid on a house in eastern Kirkuk," said Colonel Anwar Kader, police chief in the ethnically tense northern Iraqi city. "They confessed during questioning to planning to kill (chief judge) Raed al-Juhi this week," he added.

Materials confiscated during an early morning raid on a suspected Ansar Al-Sunnah cell in Kirkuk Sept. 23. The raid netted a total of 14 suspected terrorists. FOB WARRIOR, Iraq—Iraqi police and coalition forces detained 14 individuals suspected to be linked to Islamic terrorist group Ansar Al-Sunnah in Kirkuk Sept. 23. The Ansar Al-Sunnah organization has claimed responsibility for many of the area’s terrorist acts against Iraqi civilians and Iraqi and coalition security forces, including suicide bomb and improvised explosive device attacks. The early-morning raid was targeted at several houses in the southern Kirkuk neighborhood known as Al Rashid. “The...