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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2303

Iraqi Troops Respond to Explosion Near Baghdad, Capture Insurgents

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers responded to a vehicle bomb explosion near Baghdad earlier today, and Iraqi and coalition troops have detained several suspects and found numerous weapons caches over the past few days.
Iraqi soldiers responded to a detonated vehicle bomb in the Mahmudiyah district south of Baghdad at 8:15 a.m. today. Upon arrival, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, blocked off the street and requested an explosive ordnance team to clear the area.

While clearing the area, the team from 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment of 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, found another car bomb. The bomb was destroyed at 11:25 a.m. in a controlled detonation, and the area was cleared. One Iraqi civilian security guard was injured in the initial explosion.

A day earlier, coalition forces captured six suspects during a raid in the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad. One of the suspects captured is believed to be an insurgent with ties to the al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network. He is a local tribal leader believed to have ordered attacks against Iraqi civilians and coalition forces.

Also yesterday, special Iraqi army forces with coalition advisors captured two suspected insurgents believed to be responsible for improvised-explosive-device and car-bomb attacks against coalition forces during a raid in the Jihad neighborhood of southern Baghdad.

Officials believe the insurgents belong to a terrorist cell implicated in an attack on coalition forces in Mosul that resulted in the deaths of several coalition soldiers. The cell is suspected of weapons trafficking throughout the Jihad area and Baghdad.

Minimal damage occurred at the objective or surrounding area in either of these operations yesterday. There were no casualties among Iraqi civilians, Iraqi forces or coalition forces.

Elsewhere, soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, responded to a suspected rocket attack in the Rusafa neighborhood of central Baghdad around 8:55 a.m. on Dec. 3. Two rounds impacted the building next to a local detainee facility. Two Iraqi army soldiers were wounded in the incident. One died of wounds en route to a hospital.

In a separate rocket attack in the same neighborhood, an unknown number of rockets hit the Algharbuha intermediate school at 11 a.m. the same day, wounding five Iraqi school children and two teachers.

Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers responded to an explosion in the Kadamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad while conducting combat operations around 3:20 pm. Dec. 3.
Upon further investigation, a platoon-sized element from Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, discovered that the dome of the Nida’al Dallah Mosque was partially collapsed.

The troops found no injured local nationals or insurgents in the area.

In other news, a 5-year-old Iraqi girl was shot during an attack on coalition forces and Iraqi National Police in the Doura district Dec. 3 and later died of her wounds.

U.S. Army medics took the girl was taken to a military hospital in the International Zone. The 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team surgeon, Army Maj. Bruce Rivers, said medics treated her on the scene and then transported her to the combat surgical hospital. Rivers said the girl received treatment but died from the wound.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)