Posted on 10/08/2005 12:24:22 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
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Information from Iraq collected by the U. S. military and passed through the chain of command to other U. S. federal agencies was part of New York City's decision to announce a security alert on its mass transit system, defense officials confirmed today.
New York City raised its security posture late Oct. 6 after Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced during a news conference Oct. 6 that a specific threat had been made against the city's subway system.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed that information obtained by the military in Iraq is linked to New York's decision to heighten its security posture.
Iraqi security forces and coalition members in Iraq conducted a raid to follow up on the information, he said.
Parts of Penn Station, the country's busiest railroad station, were closed today, and police officers are guarding subway entrances and searching commuters' bags, according to news reports.
In addition, New York Gov. George Pataki activated 200 additional New York Army National Guard troops to support security operations in New York's train and subway stations following Bloomberg's announcement, said Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
The troops will remain on duty for 30 days, augmenting the 300-member force the New York Guard has maintained in New York since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Krenke said.
Officials declined to release details about specific information gathered in Iraq that ultimately led to the security hike, noting that it could jeopardize U. S. intelligence operations.
The Department of Homeland Security, the lead U. S. agency in the case, currently has no plans to alter the national threat level, or the threat level for New York City, which already is high.
A third man has been detained in a suspected plot to detonate explosives on the city's subway system, a government official said today, as police officers searched passengers' bags on subways, buses and ferries.
Authorities are holding three Al Qaeda operatives in connection with the suspected plot, although no details were available on who they are, where they were detained or what agency captured them, said the government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Authorities on Thursday said two men had been taken into custody. A third was captured today, the official said.
The official said the informer who provided information about the men had undergone explosives training with them at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. Security in and around the city's transit network was sharply increased Thursday after city officials announced that they had been notified by federal authorities in Washington of a terrorist threat that for the first time specified the city's transit system.
US soldiers killed at least 29 insurgents in a drive to root out militants in western Iraq, the military said on Friday, after US President George W. Bush vowed not to waver in his campaign against Islamic extremists.
< snip >
In Basra, British troops were holding 12 men, including members of the police, on suspicion of attacking foreign troops.
US officials said their latest campaign near the Syrian border was scoring successes as about 1,000 soldiers backed by combat aircraft seek to shut down what they say is a key route for arms and fighters into the country.
US officials say the western Iraq campaign will last at least through December, seeking to turn back rising insurgent violence before an Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution and a vote in December for a new parliament.
< snip >
In the southern Shia city of Basra, British troops seized 12 men, including members of the police force, during overnight raids and were holding them on suspicion of carrying out attacks on foreign troops, the British military said on Friday.
Some of those detained are also linked to militia groups, a British commander in the area said, indicating a connection to the hardline nationalist Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr.
“In the past two months, eight multinational force soldiers and six coalition members have been killed by terrorists in Basra province,” Brigadier John Lorimer said in a statement.
“This terrorism must be stopped and ... this operation was designed to do exactly that,” he said.
Police arrested eight new suspects in their hunt for those involved in the recent spate of bomb attacks in Bangladesh that killed four people and injured 150 others, officials said on Friday.
The men, arrested late Thursday, were believed to be members of the banned Islamic group Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, police officials said on condition of anonymity.
Bangladesh has recently been hit by a string of bomb attacks blamed on Islamic militants seeking to establish strict Islamic rule in this Muslim-majority nation governed by secular laws.
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An Iraqi Army Soldier and Staff Sgt. William Council, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, examine bomb-triggering devices found during an IA raid on two terrorists’ homes in Sadr City Oct. 6. Council is a native of Hassell, N.C. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Brody, 2nd Brigade Combat Team PAO) |
An elite Iraqi Army Strike Platoon took the lead during the operation. Other IA Soldiers set up an outer cordon, preventing terrorist forces from reaching the targets, and making sure terrorists didn’t escape.
One of the suspected terrorists was known for emplacing roadside bombs and conducting rocket-propelled grenade attacks on Coalition Forces. He reportedly received a car for shooting down a U.S. Army helicopter last year.
The other suspected terrorist was known as "The Engineer" for his expertise in manufacturing and emplacing bombs. The raid also uncovered a cache of bomb-triggering devices at the terrorist’s residence.
"The raid shows the capability of the Iraqi Army Battalion to plan and execute a complex mission," said Capt. Zan Hornbuckle, a U.S. Army company commander who works with the Iraqi Army. "They’re totally competent at the squad and platoon levels, and getting better at the company level.
"They did a great job-everything went really smoothly," Hornbuckle added. "It gives the Iraqi Soldiers confidence in their capabilities to pull off such a complex mission flawlessly."
Task Force Baghdad Soldiers teamed up with Iraqi Special Police Commandos to conduct a series of raids in south Baghdad Oct. 6 and netted 34 terror suspects.
The hunt for terrorists in Saydiyah kicked off just after midnight as Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team focused efforts on 16 targets and detained 10 men. Nine of the detainees were suspected of having affiliations with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group.
Elements from 1st Battalion, 1st Commando Brigade also conducted a raid in another western Al-Rasheed neighborhood and detained 24 suspected terrorists.
Multi-National forces killed two foreign fighters and captured two others during a raid in Karabilah Sept. 6.
Multi-National forces acted on intelligence tips from multiple sources that foreign fighters were operating in Karabilah at a specific location. During the raid, the forces killed two foreign fighters and captured Fahed Mohammad Saleh Aba al-Khail (aka Abu Faris), and Hassan Salim Salah ‘Abdallah Al-Sha’ari (aka Abu Habib al-Libi). Both are now in custody of Coalition forces.
Abu Faris is an admitted foreign fighter who entered Iraq illegally from Saudi Arabia with the intent to fight Coalition forces. He departed Saudi Arabia with a forged passport and crossed into Iraq with the assistance of a smuggler. The foreign fighters with whom he associated trained him on the use of various weapons and pressured him to become a suicide bomber.
Abu Habib al-Libi also admitted to being a foreign fighter. Al-Libi claims to be the Improvised Explosive Device "Emir" of Karabilah, responsible for conducting numerous bombings against Coalition and Iraqi forces. He came to Iraq from Libya, crossing the border through Syria.
| Terrorist Scorecard | |||||
| The Iraqi "Deck of Cards" Scoreboard | |||||
| Centcom's New Iraq Scorecard | |||||
| Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted Scorecard | |||||
| Saudi Arabia's New Most Wanted Scorecard | |||||
| The Round-up Blog | |||||
|
Ping
These are great raids with good nabs.
I suspect that we and friendly Iraqi's are **ready** for Iraq's constitutional referendum balloting this month.
Every week I hear that Coalition forces killed X number of terrorists and I would like an idea how many that is.
I wish I would have thought of jotting the number down from the beginning.
Check out the briefing I linked at the bottom. It definitely sounds like we will have enough troops on hand to handle things.
If the Sunnis turn out in droves things might go from bad to worse for AMZ and al-Duri and their kind.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/al-douri.htm
Read the last paragraph (it's short!).
Weird.
Thanks; interesting.
Thank you for the link. Confirms the decision to dis-band the former "army"
Thank you for keeping us informed SV. Your work does not go unappreciated.
thanks for the dailies! info re: the NY threat was just updated by FOX as "the bombs were supposed to be on timers that were to go off tomorrow, Sunday, in the subways."
IRAQ: U.S. Obtains Treatise By Bin Laden Deputy ~ Zawahiri Envisions Jihad on New Fronts
Your efforts on this are much appreciated! Interesting stuff. AS Always....God Bless Our Troops!
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