Replies

Actually it is not unusual. These terrorists were probably within 12 hours of conducting an attack. Those terrorists without the vests on were the guides, back-up triggers, or handlers. The ones wearing the vests were, most likely, on their way to conduct a bombing of civilian or Iraqi Police/Defense force units (though attacking a US unit would also be high on their list, but much harder to hit).

The bottom line is this mission probably saved the lives of dozens of Iraqi civilians today. Maybe even more if the target was a market, school, or a hospital. Yet one more in a long list of stories where US/Coalition/Iraqi forces saved the lives of civilians by killing terrorists.

A safe house is also a difficult to find target with the potential for a lot of good intell. Just finding it meant that some very good Military Intell and CA folks did a great job of connecting the dots. Add to this the phenomenal work of units lead by young 2LTs and experienced NCOs and manned with this nation's finest. When it all comes together, this is the result.