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BAGHDAD - After five months, we are seeing the benefits of the surge. Our Division Headquarters, our Second Brigade Combat Team, our Third Brigade Combat Team, and our Combat Aviation Brigade were all brought to Iraq for the that purpose. The last of the units arrived in May, and, as the summer winds down, we see the tremendous success these soldiers are contributing to securing Iraq. Successive and successful combat operations followed our arrival and now the Iraqis are gaining confidence to take a stand on their own. They are showing that they want to remove the extremists and they...

KALSU, Iraq - Paratroopers arrested 14 militants suspected of conducting attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces during Operation Marne Avalanche, this morning. Paratroopers from the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division caught the 14 suspects during an air assault and raid on a known insurgent hideout in Seddah. Two of the militants admitted to conducting multiple attacks on Coalition Forces recently.     The 14 suspects are being held for further questioning.

KALSU, Iraq — Iraqi Security Forces and Paratroopers captured a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist wanted for a string of attacks against the security forces and citizens in North Babil during Operation Marne Avalanche, August 5.The Iraqi Army, police and Paratroopers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 501st Airborne, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division conducted an early morning raid in Snadeej near Jurf As Sukhr to capture the suspected insurgent.“More than 50 IPs, 20 IA soldiers and 50 paratroopers participated in the operation,” said Capt. Henry Moltz, commander of Company A and Midlothian, Texas native.  “The populace was very receptive...

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2007 – Coalition forces killed eight terrorists and detained 22 suspected terrorists during operations today targeting al Qaeda members in central Iraq and the Tigris River valley, officials reported. While targeting an al Qaeda leader in the Yusifiyah area, who was also suspected of helping foreign terrorists to enter into Iraq, coalition forces were engaged by terrorists with small arms fire. Coalition forces employed close air support killing five of the terrorists. The assault force then followed fleeing suspects into a building, where they detained armed individuals and uncovered fortified fighting positions and a large cache of...

KALSU, Iraq – As part of the ongoing operation Marne Avalanche, Paratroopers and Iraqi Security Forces conducted raids against two targets in North Babil, early July 16. Marne Avalanche is the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division’s response to anti-government influence in North Babil and is designed to root out Sunni and Shia extremists alike. Eight men were detained as suspects responsible for conducting improvised explosive device attacks in North Babil by Paratroopers east of Haswah during the early morning raid. The Paratroopers of Strike Force Geronimo, the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne),...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, July 16 (Reuters) - Around 8,000 U.S. forces launched a fresh operation on Monday targeting Islamist al Qaeda militants in farmland south of Baghdad, the military said. The operation, called Marne Avalanche, is designed to stem the flow of weapons and militant fighters into the southern part of the capital, where U.S. and Iraqi forces are already fighting hard to clear them out, the military said in a statement. In pre-dawn raids, helicopter-borne troops swept into an area the U.S. military said was an al Qaeda safe haven around the Euphrates river valley, 35 km (22 miles)...