Terrorist Attack Kills 21 Iraqis; U.S. Forces Discover Weapons

American Forces Press Service ^ | Feb 21, 2006

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2006 – An improvised explosive device killed 21 Iraqi civilians today in Baghdad, and two Iraqis were killed and 11 were wounded in separate attacks, military officials in Iraq reported. Terrorists detonated the IED at 5:30 p.m. in Abu Dshair in the Doura district of Baghdad. Another 25 Iraqis were wounded in the attack. Iraqi police and soldiers from Multinational Division Baghdad responded to the scene of the attack.

Elsewhere, two Iraqi Public Order Brigade officers were killed and two were wounded today when a terrorist detonated a roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad. One Iraqi civilian was also injured in the attack.

In another incident, a rocket exploded at 2 p.m. today in the Habiba area in eastern Baghdad, wounding five Iraqi policemen and four Iraqi civilians. Iraqi police and elements of the 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army, responded to the scene.

In other Iraq news, U.S. soldiers conducting a reconnaissance patrol near Quratiyah, about 350 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, discovered more than 3,000 pieces of munitions yesterday. This cache is among the largest discovered to date in western Anbar province, officials said.

The soldiers, from the Fort Wainwright, Alaska-based 4th Squadron, 14th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7, were actively seeking out weapons caches. Local citizens provided information regarding the site, where the soldiers discovered two displaced piles of dirt and rocks near a vehicle trail. Upon further investigation, the displaced areas were identified as weapons caches and they were excavated.

The cache of munitions ranged from 60 mm to 125 mm mortars and included various other projectile-type munitions.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Division Baghdad news releases.)