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Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2005/20050808_2370.html

Combined Coalition, Iraqi Operations Disrupt Terrorists

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2005 – Multinational Corps Iraq operations continue to place pressure on terrorist operations in Iraq, with coalition and Iraqi security forces conducting more than 182 combined and independent offensive operations throughout the country since late July.
Results from operations conducted between July 30 and Aug. 5 include the discovery and clearance of 109 improvised explosive devices and 32 caches; the capture of 805 insurgent fighters, with the subsequent detention of 493; and the death or capture of 11 foreign fighters.

"These are great successes for the coalition and Iraqi security forces. The terrorists' command and control will continue to deteriorate as the coalition forces continue to pressure terrorists and disrupt their operations network," Col. Jessie Farrington, MNCI chief of operations, said.

Highlights of operations from Aug. 6 and 7 include:

In Mosul, coalition forces detained two individuals for handing out terrorist propaganda. The two individuals revealed the location of their source and, during a resulting raid, Iraqi police killed one terrorist later confirmed to be a Syrian national. In a combined raid, coalition and Iraqi security forces captured three men connected to terror leader Abbass Fadhel Zangana.
Near Hit, Iraqi Intervention Forces and U.S. Marines captured three terrorists in a truck towing another vehicle modified as a car bomb.
In Haqlaniyah, coalition forces destroyed a booby-trapped house that contained improvised explosive devices.
In Baghdad, coalition forces captured a car bomb and four terrorists who were involved in a car-bomb cell. Iraqi forces captured ten members of a terrorist cell in Sadr City.
In other developments, Iraqi army soldiers and coalition forces captured suspected insurgents in a targeted search Aug. 7 in Rawah, Iraq, according to a Multinational Force Iraq report.
Elements of U.S. Army Task Force 2-14 and soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, detained four suspected insurgents during the operation. The suspects included one Syrian man, one Sudanese man, a former Rawah police officer, and a civilian. The Sudanese man was in possession of an expired passport.

In Fallujah, Iraqi army soldiers found and eliminated improvised explosive devices while conducting search operations Aug. 6, according to a MNFI report.

Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, discovered an IED while on a dismounted patrol. The IED consisted of one 130 mm artillery round enclosed in a white burlap bag with a car-alarm receiver, a washing machine timer, and a battery. The area was secured and the IED was disarmed and removed for later disposal.

Elsewhere, Iraqi army soldiers found IEDs in Rawah and Mugdadiyah. In Rawah, soldiers raided a building and found one 120 mm artillery round and two pounds of propellant. Two suspected insurgents were detained.

In Mugdadiyah, a patrol located one 155 mm artillery round and an unknown initiation device. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team removed the IED.

No injuries or damages were reported during the operations.

In other news from Iraq, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces conducted a combined raid on a location known to be manufacturing car bombs Aug. 7 in Baghdad.

An Iraqi SWAT team and a coalition support unit discovered two vehicles in a carport partially wired as suicide car bombs. Both vehicles had holes cut in the dashboard exposing detonators with wire connections to the trunk and under the hood. Four male suspects were detained.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi police and elements of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, located a possible car bomb on a roadway. The dark blue, four-door sedan was secured, and the immediate area was cleared. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team confirmed the presence of explosives and conducted a controlled detonation.

No injuries or damages were reported during the operations.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)

Related Sites:
Multinational Force Iraq
Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq

Heard this on the radio a few minutes ago. Sorry if it's been posted already:

MAN IN TERROR DATABASE ARRESTED

Pakistani citizen came up on list during traffic stop in Pikesville; Officials say he isn't a likely threat; N.Y. man faces charges of selling fake immigration documents

By Matthew Dolan, Anica Butler and Siobhan Gorman
Sun Staff

Originally published August 9, 2005

A Pakistani citizen whose name surfaced in a terrorism-related database after he was picked up in a routine traffic stop in Baltimore County will face federal charges this morning of selling fake immigration documents, officials said.

Muhammad Asif Haider, 27, of New York City remained in federal custody yesterday awaiting his hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

The arrest late Sunday night marked the second time in less than a week that federal authorities have detained suspects from the Baltimore region as part of their anti-terrorism efforts. Law enforcement officials said the two cases appear to be unrelated.

Haider was listed in the FBI's Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization file, according to law enforcement officials, but it was unclear why.

"We're not going to comment on the watch-list issue," said Heather Tasker, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York.

But officials privately downplayed the significance of his arrest, saying that they didn't believe he posed a likely terrorist threat. The immigration fraud indictment issued in New York against Haider makes no mention of terrorism or terrorism-related activities.

Haider's arrest came Sunday at 10:43 p.m. when a Baltimore County police officer stopped a 1994 black Lincoln Town Car with Maryland plates. Police said the car had its lights off as it left a gas station on Reisterstown Road between Village Road and Interstate 695 in Pikesville.

Approaching the car, the officer asked the driver for identification. When the driver couldn't produce any, the officer sought identification from his two passengers, one in front and one in the rear, police said.

Using a computer in his patrol car, the officer checked the two men in the National Criminal Information Center and the state motor vehicle registry.

He received a "hit" on Haider, the back-seat passenger, said Sgt. Vickie Warehime, a county police spokeswoman.

The officer found that Haider was wanted on a federal warrant and was on the terrorist "watch list," Warehime said. All three were taken to the Woodlawn precinct. The driver, Talmur Khawaa, 19, of the 6700 block of Graceland Ave. in Baltimore, was given a warning for driving without his headlights on and a citation for failing to produce his license on demand, Warehime said.

Khawaa was released, along with the other passenger.

On Aug. 3, Haider was indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of committing immigration fraud between July 2002 and May 2003 with at least three other men in and around New York City.

According to the indictment, Haider, using the alias Asif Iqbal, first met with an undercover law enforcement agent in Queens, N.Y., in December 2002. At that meeting and in subsequent meetings, he allegedly took a total of more than $6,000 as payment for providing false Social Security numbers and fake green cards.

It is likely that Haider's immigration case will be transferred back to New York after today's hearing, prosecutors said. His attorney did not return a call for comment.

Jim Pettit, a spokesman for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security, which oversees the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, cautioned against assuming Haider is also wanted in conjunction with a terrorism investigation.

The officer who stopped Haider notified the analysis center, which in turn checked with the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, Pettit said. The screening center found a "hit" on the National Criminal Information Center Database and others.

Pettit said checking with the FBI center is "standard practice" for calls that come into the state center. He said police officers tend to call the state center, which was launched in 2003, when "something looks out of the ordinary."

Each name on the screening center's list carries a code to instruct the police officer on the street. This time, the instruction was to arrest Haider, Pettit said.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.list09aug09,1,3026158.story?coll=bal-local-headlines