| WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2006 -- Iraqi security forces searched the Fallujah general hospital yesterday as part of their continuous operations to maintain the security and safety of the citizens of Fallujah. Elsewhere, Iraqi and coalition forces have captured dozens of insurgents in recent days.
The hospital was searched after intelligence indicated it was being used as a potential safe haven for insurgents. The Iraqi troops with support from coalition forces entered the hospital to ensure that the facility continues to be a safe place for the people of Fallujah to receive medical treatment, U.S. officials said.
No insurgent activity was uncovered. The hospital staff and patients cooperated with the Iraqi security forces. The visit was completed without incident, officials said.
Elsewhere, Iraqi army and coalition troops from Multinational Division Baghdad detained 17 terrorists around 9 p.m. Nov. 6 in central Baghdad. The soldiers, from 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and the U.S. Army’s 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, conducted a combined cordon-and-search operation in the Karkh neighborhood to capture members of a suspected death squad.
The soldiers apprehended 17 suspects, all identified by witnesses as members of a death squad operating in central Baghdad. Neither injuries to Iraqi or coalition personnel nor damage to their equipment were reported.
Over the previous weekend, Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained 24 suspected terrorists in Baghdad. Iraqi and U.S. soldiers detained 23 suspected terrorists Nov. 5 for suspected involvement with death squads and setting up illegal checkpoints.
In a separate incident a day earlier, U.S. soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team detained a suspected terrorist around 10:15 a.m. after discovering a weapons cache underneath the Al Hibna electrical substation in Kadhamiyah, a neighborhood in northern Baghdad. The cache contained four mortar rounds, a 60 mm mortar tube, a G3 handgun, three G3 magazines, an RPK machinegun, a PKC assault rifle, two AK-47 assault rifle, about 3,000 7.62 mm rounds of ammunition, and four grenade fuses. The suspect was held for further questioning.
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