Coalition forces kill three, detain others in raids on al-Qaeda in Iraq
Two Marines stand outside a house while on a patrol in Sin adh Dhibban. Marines with Battery K, 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) and Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, conducted joint census operations. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Wayne Edmiston.
BAGHDAD — Coalition forces here over the past two days killed three terrorists and detained 28 suspects while putting pressure on terrorists facilitating the movement of al-Qaeda senior leaders.South of Bayji, local Iraqis alerted ground forces to several suspected terrorists tied to the individual targeted in a Coalition operation. The ground forces captured the targeted individual and detained five more suspects believed to work for a local al-Qaeda leader. Coalition forces also found a cache of weapons and military-style assault vests with the suspects.
“We’re on the offensive against al-Qaeda in Iraq and the foreign terrorists that help them,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman. “We will continue to hunt down terrorist leaders and those who take part in the planning and execution of their vicious attacks against innocent Iraqis.”
In a pre-dawn raid north of Baghdad, Coalition forces captured a weapons distributor and “special groups†leader responsible for the storage and distribution of Iranian weapons. The suspected weapons facilitator has traveled to and from Iran numerous times and is responsible for smuggling and distributing explosively-formed penetrators to groups operating throughout the Baghdad area, U.S. officials said. He is also believed to have had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force.
“Coalition troops continue to kill and capture terrorists who bring Iranian weapons, especially EFPs, into Iraq,” said Garver. “We will continue to pursue these networks that provide these weapons to those who intend to kill Coalition forces, Iraqi Security Forces and innocent Iraqis.”
In other operations today:
– Coalition forces captured an alleged member of a Baghdad car-bombing network and one of his associates during a precision raid today in the capital city. The targeted individual also is believed to be tied to a suspected terrorist detained during an operation Thursday in Baghdad, U.S. officials said.
– An engagement in Hawija between Coalition forces and terrorists led to three enemy fighters being killed and one detained.
– During a raid in Kirkuk, Iraqi and Coalition forces detained one suspected terrorist for his alleged ties to a weapons transporter for Kirkuk-based al-Qaeda cells.
– Coalition forces in Mosul continued to target foreign terrorist facilitators associated with al-Qaeda senior leaders during two operations. Based on information from an operation Aug. 13, ground forces conducted a raid in the city and detained one suspected terrorist. A nearby raid netted four suspected terrorists.
(Story compiled from Multi-National Force-Iraq and Multi-National Corps-Iraq news releases)
In other developments throughout Iraq: