| WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2006 -- In a string of operations across Iraq this week, Iraqi forces detained 28 suspects, coalition forces killed 17 insurgents and rescued three Iraqi hostages, and four Iraqis were killed in a suicide attack, military officials in Iraq reported.
The 9th Iraqi Army Division, with coalition support, detained 28 suspected insurgents for questioning in an operation within the Iraqi capital today in Rusafa. U.S. attack helicopters were used in support of the mission to assist the ground elements with their mission. An assortment of small arms and munitions also were seized during the operation.
Elsewhere, coalition forces used air-delivered precision ordnance to kill three insurgents today in Ubaydi. Insurgents attacked coalition forces with small-arms fire and then attempted to flee in a vehicle. In response to the attack, coalition forces used precision ordnance to destroy the vehicle and the insurgents inside. Aside from the vehicle, there was no further damage.
In another operation, coalition air and ground forces combined to kill 14 insurgents and wound two at about 2 a.m. yesterday after the individuals engaged a coalition convoy with small-arms fire southwest of Samarra.
While the insurgents fled in trucks and motorcycles, Task Force Lightning attack helicopters tracked them for several miles and used two guided bombs to destroy one of the vehicles. Subsequently, helicopters and strike aircraft engaged the remaining vehicles, killing or wounding all of the insurgents.
Upon further investigation of the site, Task Force Lightning soldiers discovered more than 1,500 rounds of small-arms ammunition and various semi-automatic machine guns including six AK-47s, two heavy machineguns, two destroyed motorcycles with homemade machine gun mounts and one rocket-propelled-grenade launcher.
Separately, Iraqi police successfully engaged a suicide car bomber attempting to breach an entry-control point leading to a police station in the Dawasa neighborhood Nov. 29 at about 12:15 p.m.
The Iraqi police prevented the terrorist from breaching the entry control point, but the bomb exploded outside the checkpoint, killing four Mosul citizens and the suicide car bomber and injuring 29. The four citizens killed in the blast included two children and two adults. Those injured were transported to Mosul general hospital for treatment. One Iraqi police officer received treatment for superficial wounds and was released.
"Iraqi police in Ninewa province are vigilant to these types of attacks," said Army Maj. Adam Rocke, operations officer for 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "The sad part is the innocent citizens who are killed or injured as a result of these cowardly acts, especially the children.”
In another operation, three handcuffed hostages were rescued from insurgents by soldiers of the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, near Forward Operating Base Loyalty on Nov. 29. A fourth handcuffed hostage was found nearby, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
The three rescued hostages were discovered after the U.S. soldiers noticed an illegal checkpoint being manned by six individuals in military uniforms. One of the six manning the checkpoint had a fake Ministry of Interior identification. The six suspects caught running the illegal checkpoint were detained by U.S. forces for questioning
Elsewhere, soldiers from Multinational Division Baghdad uncovered a sizeable cache of munitions in a northwestern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital Nov. 29.
After receiving a tip, soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, conducted a combat patrol to search a house of a suspected mortar man. When the troops arrived at the residence, there was no one at the home. During the search of the house, they discovered a weapons cache. They found 16 82 mm mortar rounds, one 60 mm mortar round, one 82 mm mortar tube with a tripod, one 60 mm mortar tube with a base plate, 11 grenades, one machinegun with three full magazines, one rocket-propelled-grenade launcher sight, one set of body armor with plates, one set of body armor without plates, 42 mortar primers, 59 grenade fuses, two radios, and a bomb protective suit.
(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
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