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The US Army captured a senior Mahdi Army military commander in Baghdad. The Mahdi Army commander led a 2,000-man strong brigade in the Karadah district in eastern Baghdad, Multinational Forces Iraq reported. The US military could not release the commander’s name as they are still exploiting the intelligence information related to his capture, Major Joey Sullinger, a public affairs officer for Multinational Division Baghdad told The Long War Journal. The commander was detained during a raid in the Sumer al Ghadier neighborhood in the New Baghdad district, which borders Karadah to the north. US soldiers from the 66th Armor Regiment...

An Iraqi tank is stationed on the main road leading into Amarah. AFP photo. Iraqi security forces, backed by the US military, have started an operation against the Mahdi Army in the southern border province of Maysan. Amarah, the provincial capital of Maysan, is thought to be one of the locations senior Mahdi Army leader retreated to after Iraqi forces moved into Sadr City last month. Amarah is also a forward command and control hub for Iranian operations in southern Iraq. Iraqi security forces established checkpoints along the entrances to the province, and have closed down the border crossing...

BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr revealed Friday that he plans to create a powerful new fighting force to battle what he calls "the occupiers" in Iraq. Al-Sadr's announcement came in the form of a statement read after Friday prayers in the holy Shiite city of Kufa. The statement called on his nearly 60,00-strong Mahdi Army militia to exercise restraint. "The resistance will be carried out exclusively by a special group which I will announce later," Sadr's statement read, adding that "weapons will be in the hands of this group exclusively and will only be directed at the occupier,"...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq today captured a man believed to be the leader of an Iranian-backed enemy “special group” and another who's an alleged al-Qaida chieftain during separate operations conducted near Kut and in Mosul, respectively, military officials said. Coalition forces captured the suspected Iranian-trained explosives expert in Numaniyah, southeast of Baghdad near Kut. Intelligence sources told coalition officials the suspect has numerous Iranian contacts with whom he would meet when smuggling weapons and bomb-making materials into Iraq. Coalition forces entered the suspect’s residence and subdued him without firing any shots after the man made...

Iraqi police have captured three Iranian-backed Special Groups operatives behind the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers at the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center in January 2007. Meanwhile, US troops captured another Special Groups leader in the Al Kut region, The Iraqi police captured the three "key criminals" behind the 2007 Karbala attack in Musayyib, just south of Baghdad, on June 5. The three Special Groups operatives are "suspected of trafficking and emplacing explosively formed projectiles." Explosively formed projectiles are the signature weapon of Shia terrorists with links to Iran. The US military immediately suspected Iran's Qods Force, the...

Sadr returns to Iraq for a short period of time in May 2007 to deliver a sermon in Kufa. [AP Photo] Click to view. Written by Bill Roggio and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross for The Daily Standard. IN THE PAST MONTH, Iraqi and coalition forces have succeeded in their fight against the Mahdi Army's "special groups." On May 3, the U.S. military destroyed a special groups command center in Sadr City, killing a wanted leader in the attack. On May 25, Iraqi special operations forces captured a mid-level special groups leader in the al-Shuala area of Baghdad. And on May 31,...

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2008 – Coalition forces killed five enemy fighters, destroyed a foreign terrorist hideout, and detained seven terrorism suspects in operations across Iraq today. A tip from a detainee led coalition forces to a foreign terrorist hideout site in a remote area of northwestern Iraq. When forces arrived, enemy fighters attacked. Coalition forces returned fire and called in air support. Five terrorists were killed. Forces found several suicide vests and heavy machine guns at the site. The site was destroyed. Also today, coalition forces targeted members of a terrorist bombing network in Beiji, south of Mosul, and detained...

Several thousand demonstrators protested against the US in rallies across the country on Friday. The placard says: ’No agreement with US occupiers’ American troops in Iraq would be confined to their bases and private security guards subject to local law if Iraq gets its way in negotiations with the US over the future status of American forces. According to a senior Iraqi official, the negotiations between the two allies became so fraught recently that President Bush intervened personally to defuse the situation. On Thursday he telephoned Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, to assure him that Washington was not seeking...

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi Army and National Police turned in weapons in separate incidents throughout Baghdad, while Multi National Division – Baghdad Soldiers detained suspected criminals June 7. At approximately 12:30 p.m., June 7, policemen from the 2nd National Police Division turned in a weapons cache found in the Kadamiyah district to MND-B Soldiers. The cache, brought to the 2nd NP headquarters by a local citizen, consisted of a 60 mm mortar tube, two rockets, two smoke grenades, an 82 mm mortar round; 26, 82 mm mortar rounds; five 82 mm illumination mortar rounds; 42, 60 mm mortar rounds and...

TIKRIT, Iraq – Iraqi Army soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, uncovered several weapons caches in Sadr City, Baghdad, June 7. The soldiers seized a weapons cache at approximately 5:30 a.m. consisting of an explosively formed projectile, a 155 mm artillery round, an improvised-explosive device, explosive wire, two anti-tank rockets and an anti-aircraft rocket. At approximately 5:45 a.m., soldiers in the same unit discovered two more caches, the first of which consisted of two 60 mm mortar rounds, three machine guns, four Russian sniper rifles, five AK-47 magazines and 200 AK-47 rounds. The second cache consisted of a rocket...

BAGHDAD – Iraqi National Police and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers seized a number of weapons caches and killed one criminal June 6 in Baghdad. Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, discovered 11 rocket warheads, four 122mm mortar rounds, a rocket tube, and a medium-sized bomb at approximately 10:15 a.m. northwest of Baghdad. National Police from the 8th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division, seized 16 rocket-propelled grenades, eight boosters, a pineapple grenade and an RPG night site at approximately 10:40 a.m. in the Oubaidy area of New Baghdad. Iraqi NPs from 2nd Bde., 1st NP...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed four terrorists and destroyed two foreign terrorist safe-houses in northwest Iraq Saturday, also capturing two wanted men in Mosul. Near Bi’aj, about 130 kilometers southwest of Mosul, Coalition forces targeted several foreign terrorist safe-houses. At the first location, the force immediately came under attack by small arms fire. Coalition forces responded in self-defense, returning fire and calling for supporting aircraft to engage the enemy. Four terrorists were killed in the ensuing engagement. Coalition forces discovered a vehicle with a foreign license plate adjacent to one of the target buildings. Inside the building they found weapons,...

BAGHDAD – Iraqi Army soldiers seized multiple weapons caches in Sadr City June 6. The IA soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st IA Division discovered 15 AK-47s, 200 AK-47 rounds, two Berno rifles, a damaged rocket launcher, 14 fake identification cards, three license plates and an 8 mm video tape at approximately 6 a.m. At approximately 8:15 a.m., the soldiers seized a sniper rifle, an AK-47, 100 PKC rounds, five rocket-propelled grenade propellants and a Baghdad protection badge. Iraqi soldiers from the 68th Brigade, 11th IA Division seized 25 82 mm mortar rounds, 19 artillery rounds, six 60 mm mortar...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2008 – U.S. Central Command is part of an Interagency Task Force for Irregular Warfare, a CentCom operations section initiative that recently stood up to track and target “violent and extreme actors” in the command’s area of operations, the Air Force general who’s spearheading the effort said yesterday. “Regionally, we look at influences of extreme actors that are malign that would provide, from within their borders, exporting either violence or activities that would be disruptive to their neighbors,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert H. Holmes, CentCom’s deputy director of operations, said to online journalists and bloggers during...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2008 – Coalition forces killed four enemy fighters and detained dozens of suspected terrorists in recent operations, military officials said. The leader of an Iranian-backed “special group” surrendered to coalition forces today in Hayy, about 190 miles southeast of Baghdad. Acting on intelligence information, coalition forces raided the presumed residence of the special group leader, who’s suspected of directing and ordering attacks against coalition forces in Wasit province, as well as attacks and kidnappings against civil authorities there. The man also is suspected of smuggling Iranian weapons -- specifically, Katyusha rockets -- into Baghdad. In a separate...

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq captured an alleged leader and a suspected primary weapons smuggler and financier for Iranian-backed enemy fighters today. Acting on intelligence information, coalition forces conducted a raid on the home of the suspected “special groups” leader in Mahawil, south of Baghdad. He surrendered without incident. In a separate operation east of Kut, intelligence tips helped coalition forces track down the hideout of a suspected special groups member who sources allege is the primary weapons smuggler and financier for Iranian-backed enemy elements in that area. The suspect and an associate surrendered when coalition...

Iraqi police announced the arrest of five senior leaders of the Mahdi Army in the city of Karbala as assassination attempts were made on three police commanders in Baghdad and southern Iraq. The largest attack occurred in a Shia neighborhood in Baghdad, and resulted in more than 13 killed and 50 wounded. The Karbala police announced the captureof Mahdi Army commanders Ali Abd Taan, Sayyid Munadil, Muhsin Sharea, Haidar Jouri, and Razzaq al Samma. The five men lead a Mahdi Army unit in Karbala that was behind attacks on Iraqi police forces during a religious festival in August 2007. The...

Iraqi and Coalition forces press operations against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and Basrah despite the cease-fire signed with the Mahdi Army in Sadr City. The Iraqi Army has expanded its operations in Basrah province to the east just along the Iranian border, while eleven Mahdi Army fighters have been captured during operations in Baghdad over the past 24 hours. Iraqi soldiers and police, backed by US and British advisers, have expanded Operation Knights’ Assault to the eastern town of Abu Al Khasib, a region east of Basrah on the Iranian border. A brigade from the 1st Iraqi Army Division,...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces struck a blow against a Special Groups criminal ring when they captured a key suspect Saturday in the Rusafa district of Baghdad. Intelligence sources led Coalition forces to the residence of the suspect who is believed to be a key assistant to a senior Iranian-trained Special Groups leader who recently fled Sadr City under pressure from Iraqi Security Forces. Intelligence shows that as Iraqi Security or Coalition forces come close to capturing senior Special Groups leaders, the criminals flee and hide until the situation calms. “Most of the senior Special Groups leadership have fled Sadr City...

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq after Friday prayers to denounce a government deal with Washington on US troop levels.Followers of the anti-US cleric brandished placards outside mosques in their Sadr City Shiite stronghold in the capital as security forces stepped up their presence there.A key member of the Sadrist movement, Sheikh Mohannad Al-Gazawi, denounced the proposed deal that will extend the US troop presence in Iraq beyond 2008."This agreement binds Iraq and gives 99 percent of the country to America," he said.The faithful carried placards slamming "the...