Posted on 05/14/2006 5:11:16 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2006 – Terrorists killed 14 Iraqi citizens and injured at least six others in an attack today in western Baghdad. In other news, coalition forces raided a terrorist safe haven near Julaybah yesterday, killing three terrorists and detaining four suspects, officials in Iraq reported today. In today's attack, two vehicles packed with explosives detonated near a Camp Victory complex checkpoint.
Initial reporting indicates that the terrorists blew themselves up in a parking lot east of the coalition forces' base. Their target wasn't the compound, bur rather, Iraqis congregated in a parking lot, officials said.
Those injured were evacuated to a medical treatment facility, and Iraqi authorities are investigating the incident.
In other developments, coalition forces conducted a raid yesterday morning near Julaybah to search out a wanted al-Qaida so-called emir.
On arrival at the hideout, about 12 kilometers east of Ramadi, the coalition troops began receiving rifle and machine gun fire. The terrorists then began launching ineffective mortar fire from across a nearby river.
Coalition troops neutralized the direct and indirect fire with small-arms fire and close-air support and simultaneously raided five structures, associated hideouts and vehicles.
After killing three terrorists and detaining four others, the troops searched the area and found six vehicles, three of them loaded with weapons and explosives, including rifles, mortars and bomb-making material. The troops also uncovered numerous weapons caches with AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and improvised-explosive-device-related material, officials reported.
One coalition soldier received a superficial leg wound during the fighting but has since returned to duty.
Five safe houses, six cars, and all lethal material were destroyed on target. No civilians were injured or harmed during the assault or resulting firefight, officials said.
Coalition forces are now assessing if the wanted terrorist was captured or killed during the fighting.
Also in Iraq, members of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers discovered three weapons caches in recent days, officials reported.
The unit's "Bulldog Troop," 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry, discovered the first two caches May 11. They included four RPG heads and propellant, two RPG launchers, two unknown rockets, an 82 mm mortar tube, a tripod, a homemade rocket launcher, a 60 mm rocket, an unknown rocket in a green canister, a box of detonators, 400 rounds of 7.62 ammunition, a heavy machine gun and an assault rifle.
The Bulldog Troop found a third cache in the same general vicinity yesterday. It included four RPG rounds, three anti-personnel RPG rounds, three RPG launchers, five mortar rounds of various sizes, a 60 mm rocket, a rifle grenade, four anti-personnel mines, four mortar fuses, 100 to 150 unknown grenades, six illumination rounds, 500 rounds of 7.62 linked ammunition, a bottle of unknown liquid, four bags of unknown white powder, a bag of gun powder, a motorcycle battery and electronic equipment for an IED.
An explosive ordnance disposal unit destroyed the cache.
(Compiled from several Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
Ping
Way to go....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.