Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2007 – Two terrorists were killed and 21 suspects detained in raids targeting al Qaeda throughout Iraq today. During early morning raids in Mosul, coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained five suspected al Qaeda cell members. In western Baghdad, coalition forces raided a building, killing one terrorist and detaining another suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing network. Six individuals suspected of associating with an al Qaeda in Iraq cell leader known to conduct kidnappings, assassinations and mortar attacks on coalition forces were detained in a Baghdad raid. A raid west of the capital city netted...

BAGHDAD - American soldiers rolled into Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City slum on Saturday in search of Iranian-linked militants and as many as 26 Iraqis were killed in what a U.S. officer described as "an intense firefight." But residents, police and hospital officials said eight civilians were killed in their homes and angrily accused U.S. forces of firing blindly on the innocent. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the raids and demanded an explanation for the assault into a district where he has barred U.S. operations in the past. Separately, two American solders were charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis,...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed a terrorist and detained 15 suspected terrorists during raids today in Baghdad, Mosul and Karmah, Iraq, official reported. -- Based on information gained from a previous operation in Anbar province, coalition forces in Mosul captured a suspected senior terrorist leader connected to the al Qaeda network. Military officials said the individual also is suspected of making decisions on enforcing religious punishments and operating a smuggling ring transporting weapons and cargo. -- Coalition forces detained 12 suspected terrorists tied to the al Qaeda senior leader network in Karmah. Officials said one...

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2007 – A coalition air strike killed three terrorists today in the Sadr City section of Baghdad, and coalition troops in western Iraq killed a terrorist and seized material that could be used to construct chemical bombs. The terrorists killed in the Sadr City air strike were suspected of belonging to a network that assists in the transport of weapons and high-yield explosives from Iran into Iraq, officials said. Intelligence reports also indicate the secret cell has ties to a kidnapping network that conducts attacks within Iraq. In a separate operation today, coalition forces detained two...

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2007 – American and Afghan security forces teamed up to shut down a militant suicide-vehicle-bomb-making network during an operation in the Bati Kot area of Nangarhar province April 29, military officials reported. As the raid began, coalition troops trying to enter the militants’ compound came under small-arms fire, officials said. The coalition troops returned fire, killing four militants. Unfortunately, a woman and a teenager were killed in the crossfire, officials reported, and a young child and a teenage female were wounded. The injured Afghan civilians are being treated at a coalition medical facility. Coalition forces found...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2007 – A series of joint Afghan-coalition raids conducted over the past few days in southern Afghanistan have netted weapons, bomb-making components and suspects, according to U.S. military news releases. Afghan and coalition forces found improvised explosive device-making components and ammunition during an early-morning raid on a suspected militant safe house yesterday. Another raid performed the same day targeted a local Islamic school, which was suspected of harboring extremists. Both raids were conducted in the Garboz district of Khowst province. Two suspected militants were detained as a result of the operations, officials said. The seized ammunition...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2007 – American troops killed one terrorist and detained 16 others, including an alleged al Qaeda-affiliated killer and a media representative, during a series of morning raids conducted throughout Iraq today. Coalition forces in Mosul captured an al Qaeda-related suspect known as “The Butcher,” who is allegedly responsible for numerous kidnappings, beheadings and suicide operations in the Ramadi and Mosul areas. Coalition forces also detained five other suspects and killed one terrorist during the raid. Coalition troops operating in Fallujah captured two suspected terrorists with alleged ties to foreign fighter operations. Elsewhere, coalition forces captured a...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2007 – In operations around Iraq over the past three days, coalition forces captured 38 suspects. During a raid near the Syrian border today, coalition forces targeted terrorists suspected of facilitating the movement of foreign fighters, weapons and vehicles into Iraq. Troops captured two suspected senior-level foreign fighter facilitators, and 20 other suspected terrorists. Elsewhere in Iraq today, coalition forces in Tikrit netted four terrorists suspected of developing and emplacing improvised explosive devices in the Tikrit and Bayji areas. Near Arab Jabour today, coalition forces detained five suspected terrorists during operations to destroy a vehicle-borne IED...

WASHINGTON – The latest crackdown on illegal immigrant workers came Thursday in a series of pre-dawn raids in which federal officials rounded up 195 illegal immigrants at restaurants in 17 states and the District of Columbia as part of an action against a nationwide cleaning contractor. Twenty of the arrests came in Anaheim, Orange and Irvine at places including ESPN Zone, House of Blues, La Brea Bakery, and Dave and Busters. The roundups were the culmination of a 20-month investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service. ... Soon after these latest arrests were made, a 23-count...

LONDON (AFP) - British police were told to apologize after "aggressive" anti-terror raids last year in which two Muslims were arrested but later freed without charge, triggering protests. One man was shot and injured during the controversial raids in Forest Gate, east London, which came amid heightened security fears in Britain following the July 2005 suicide bombings in London. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it had received 153 complaints from residents affected by the "terrifying experience" when police burst into two houses in Forest Gate on the night of June 1, 2006. At least two of the 11...

POMONA - The recent roundup of 338 illegal immigrants across Southern California targeted those who had ignored deportation orders, criminals, fugitives and others. But out of those arrests, about half - 159 - involved random people who officials came across and found to be in the country illegally but without any other criminal record, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It appears Pomona resident Joel Baltazar Reyes, 27, was among those people randomly stopped by immigration officials. Maria Morales said the father of her two younger daughters left home the morning of Jan. 20 and never...

Muslim unrest as police carry out new raids By Nick Britten and Nigel Bunyan Last Updated: 8:08am GMT 03/02/2007 Police raided three more addresses in Birmingham yesterday as they continued to question nine men over their involvement in the alleged plot to kidnap and behead a serving British Muslim soldier. Men leave Birmingham Central mosque after Friday prayers No further arrests were made but West Midlands Police said that a "significant quantity of exhibits" taken from the 12 other properties were being examined following Wednesday's arrests. Officers were granted an extension to hold the men until Feb 5 and said...

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday that immigration reform is needed more than raids like those that arrested more than 750 people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area over the past week. Villaraigosa said labor laws should be enforced, borders secured and a pathway to citizenship offered to illegal immigrants who've resided in this country, worked and paid taxes. "I think that will produce much better results than the raids that occur, that oftentimes two weeks later those people are back," he said while taking audience questions after a speech at the National Press Club. "I think what we...

Greeley-based Swift & Co. says it will consider a sale, merger or IPO after unnamed suitors approached the giant meatpacker. Swift, at more than $9 billion in revenue, is one of the nation's biggest private companies. It was part of ConAgra until the Omaha-based agri-giant sold it in 2002 to a partnership between buyout firm HM Capital - formerly Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst - and George Gillett's Booth Creek. Gillett serves as Swift's chairman. Over the five years of ownership, Swift has dealt with a Japanese beef ban that crimped sales and prompted layoffs, as well as a raid...

Police arrest five in anti-terror raids Tuesday January 23, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK) A police officer photographs a car outside a Halifax address after anti-terror raids in the area. Photograph: Paul Barker/AFP/Getty Images Five people were arrested in separate anti-terrorism operations this morning, two in West Yorkshire and three around Manchester, police have said. Two men, aged 25 and 29, were held in Halifax at 6am "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan police said. The London force's anti-terrorism officers carried out the raid in conjunction with West Yorkshire police,...

Imagine you've just given a year and a half of your life to serving your country in Iraq and come home to find that your pregnant wife and your toddler daughter have been forced to leave the United States and now the government won't let them back in. You sit at home waiting, but no one can give you answers when or if they will be allowed to return. You wait five months, long enough for your new baby to be born in a foreign country. But still, no one can give you answers. That is what Aaron Thorsted of...

A Wilmington police officer shot and killed a Rottweiler mix Friday while responding to a call to check whether two children had been left at home alone with the dog. The officer, B.P. Jensen, approached a house at 1910 Colwell Ave. at 2:10 p.m. after receiving the call. When the officer arrived at the house, the dog bit his ankle, Wilmington Police Sgt. Warren Kennedy said. Jensen kicked the dog and then shot it with his service weapon, Kennedy said. About 20 adults and children briefly surrounded the officer after the dog was shot, and about 10 people locked themselves...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2006 – Several Iranian nationals were detained in recent coalition raids conducted in Iraq’s capital city, a senior U.S. military officer said in Baghdad today. Two Iranians were among eight other suspects detained during a coalition raid at a Baghdad site Dec. 21, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told reporters. The early-morning operation was based on intelligence information, Caldwell said, noting documents, maps, photographs, and videos were also confiscated. “Debriefings of these detainees and investigation of the seized materials have yielded intelligence that link perhaps some of them to some...

WICHITA, Kan. - When hordes of police and immigration officials stormed meatpacking plants in six states this week, the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims. Consumers and the industry itself may be feeling the repercussions in a shortage of meatpackers, higher wage costs and, ultimately, higher prices for the beef that lands on America's tables at home and in restaurants. Some analysts see the current emphasis on enforcement in the meatpacking industry as the precursor to getting an immigration bill through Congress — by demonstrating the government's capability to enforce laws at the work site. "The...

WASHINGTON - More than 1,200 people were arrested in meatpacking plants in six states during raids that federal officials said amounted to the largest-ever workplace crackdown on illegal immigration. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday the investigation uncovered a "disturbing front" in the war against illegal immigration, in which illegal immigrants are using the identities of U.S. citizens to obtain jobs. "Violations of our immigration laws and privacy rights often go hand in hand," he said. "Enforcement actions like this one protect the privacy rights of innocent Americans while striking a blow against illegal immigration." The raids at Swift...