Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46578
Operation Arrowhead Ripper Makes Headway in Baqubah
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007 – Iraqi and U.S. troops continue to clear out insurgents in Baqubah and distribute aid to its citizens as part of ongoing Operation Arrowhead Ripper, and recent terrorist bombings in Baghdad have killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 23 others, U.S. officials reported.
Iraqi security forces and U.S. soldiers operating in Baqubah yesterday continued to clear the city of insurgents while providing humanitarian aid to its citizens as Operation Arrowhead Ripper entered its ninth day.
Arrowhead Ripper is one of several operations that are part of an overall offensive against insurgents in Iraq dubbed Operation Phantom Thunder, which began June 15, once all “surge” troops were in place.
Iraqi and U.S. security forces have provided Baqubah’s citizens about 265,000 pounds of rice and flour, more than 10,000 vegetarian rations, and thousands of bottles of water since the operation began.
At least 60 al Qaeda operatives have been killed, 74 have been detained, 31 weapons caches have been discovered, 81 improvised explosive devices have been destroyed and 18 booby-trapped structures have been destroyed since the operation began.
U.S. helicopter crews returned ground fire and killed one insurgent and wounded another during an engagement south of Baghdad June 26.
Two AH-64 Apache helicopters assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade were fired on by insurgents inside a building. The helicopters returned fire with 30 mm rounds. Paratroopers from the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, were called to search the building and immediate area for insurgents. The wounded insurgent was taken to a local hospital for treatment and will be taken into custody by the Iraqi army.
In other news, Iraqi police from Khalis broke up a gunfight between Iraqi residents of two neighboring villages June 26. The police were dispatched in response to reports that al Koubat villagers were being attacked by members of the Tohoyla village.
The gunfire stopped upon the arrival of the Iraqi police, who discovered that four local Iraqis had been killed and 19 others were wounded. Two Iraqi police were wounded during the altercation. The police secured the scene, provided first aid and transported the wounded to Khalis’s local hospital for further treatment.
American soldiers with the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, also responded to the attack and assisted Iraqi police in securing the area.
Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers assigned to Troop A, 6-9 Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, killed two gunmen during an engagement near Thurah on June 26.
The U.S. soldiers were conducting security operations in the area when they were attacked by three gunmen armed with AK-47s. The Americans killed one of the gunmen, but his comrades then counter-attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. The U.S. soldiers then chased the remaining gunmen into a building.
The second gunman was killed in the ensuing firefight, while the third insurgent fled the area. There were no U.S. casualties. Small arms and ammunition, a grenade, and an improvised explosive device were found inside the building.
In other news, U.S. soldiers found 11 roadside bombs and defeated insurgent attacks while patrolling Baghdad’s Rashid district June 25 and 26.
“The continued discovery of roadside bombs before they can be used against innocent Iraqis or our forces is a strong indication that the people are growing tired of the violence in Rashid,” Army Col. Ricky D. Gibbs, commander of the 1st Infantry Division’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, said.
The U.S. troops defeated enemy forces in two separate engagements in East Rashid over a 24-hour period. Several extremists shot at a U.S. patrol on June 26. American helicopters fired on and killed two extremists. A third extremist was wounded and later detained. Troops detained four more suspects for further questioning.
(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46581
Phantom Thunder Operations Disrupt Terrorists in Iraq
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007 – U.S. and Iraqi troops are disrupting terrorist activities from Baghdad and its environs to Anbar province as the result of surge-related operations being conducted across Iraq, a senior U.S. military officer serving in Iraq said yesterday.
Operation Phantom Thunder is an ongoing anti-insurgent operation that launched June 15, once all “surge” troops arrived in Iraq. The operation has shut down hideouts operated by al Qaeda and other extremist groups, bomb factories and execution rooms, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner told online journalists yesterday.
Phantom Thunder has produced “a pattern of finding facilities, the operating bases, that al Qaeda and other extremists have been operating from in Iraq,” said Bergner, who serves as Multinational Force Iraq’s deputy chief of staff for strategic effects.
Bergner pointed to the recent discovery of safe houses in Baqubah, Iraq, that were used by insurgents for executions, as well as for prisons and weapons storage.
“We continued that same pattern,” Bergner said, noting an al Qaeda weapons cache, rocket-propelled grenades and other munitions turned up in more recent security sweeps in Baqubah. A recent coalition raid in Anbar province yielded an enemy improvised explosive device factory, the general said.
“So, what we’re seeing is an array of facilities that are established specifically to operate from, launch spectacular attacks from and solidify their control over the neighborhood in which they’re established,” Bergner said regarding insurgent facilities that have been shut down across Iraq in recent weeks.
Just days ago, coalition troops killed two senior al Qaeda agents who had operated a foreign-fighter cell out of northern Iraq, Bergner pointed out.
The purpose of the surge of operations “is really centered on improving population security, creating that linkage between the Iraqi forces and the people, the citizens in these neighborhoods, and connecting them with their government,” Bergner said.
It will likely “take a period of weeks and months” to measure the surge’s full effects against the enemy, he added.
Establishing security across Iraq is “one of those things that takes time to build, and it’s one of those things that takes time to solidify once you’ve got it in place, so that it becomes more resilient,” Bergner said.