Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16158&Itemid=21
Press Release A071231c
December 31, 2007
Coalition forces target foreign terrorist facilitators, 21 suspects detained (Kirkuk, Sammara, Mosul)
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces detained 21 suspects today during operations targeting al-Qaeda in central and northern Iraq.
In Kirkuk, Coalition forces captured two wanted individuals believed to be involved in improvised explosive device attacks against Coalition forces. Reports indicate the wanted individuals are Ansar al Sunna members and are highly experienced in manufacturing IEDs for attacks. The two individuals are believed to be brothers and involved in the Ansar al Sunna network operating in Kirkuk.
Nearby, Coalition forces captured another wanted individual believed to be an al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leader of the network operating in the Kirkuk province. The wanted individual is reportedly associated with numerous senior terrorists and foreign terrorist facilitators operating throughout the region, many of them who were recently killed or captured through successful Coalition forces operations. One of the wanted individual’s associates, Abu Harith, was an al-Qaeda in Iraq member operating as the leader of a terrorist network in Kirkuk, and was killed during an operation Nov. 21 (see MNF-I press release 071128a, “UPDATE: Coalition forces positively identify terrorists killed in recent raids,” dated Nov. 28, 2007). In addition to the wanted individual, the ground force detained one suspected terrorist during the operation.
During a series of operations south of Samarra, Coalition forces detained five suspected terrorists while targeting associates of the al-Qaeda network operating in the Raga village area. The targeted individuals are believed to be associated with al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders, to include foreign terrorist facilitators, and have allegedly facilitated their movement into the area.
Coalition forces also detained 12 suspected terrorists during operations in Mosul targeting associates of the al-Qaeda in Iraq leadership in the city.
“Iraqis are making it clear they don’t want terrorists in their communities,” said Maj. Brad Leighton, MNF-I spokesman. “We will continue to dismantle al-Qaeda networks and bring to justice the foreign terrorists they support.”
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16159&Itemid=21
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20071231-06
December 31, 2007
Explosives found, hostage rescued during joint Saydiyah operation
4th IBCT Public Affairs
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers destroyed an abandoned house, and rescued a kidnapping victim during clearing operations in West Rashid Dec. 26.
Iraqi Army and Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment, Task Force Dragon found homemade and plastic explosives during the joint operation aimed at quelling unrest in the Saydiyah area.
Explosive ordnance disposal personnel remotely detonated the cache, destroying the unoccupied house. There was no collateral damage.
IA Soldiers entered a house in search of a crane operator who had been kidnapped days before.
The man was taken to a Coalition Forces’ facility for medical screening.
Soldiers from Company B, 4th – 64th Armored Regiment also found a cache of eight 120mm rockets, a 107mm rocket, a 105mm projectile, roughly eight pounds of homemade explosives, four canisters of an unknown liquid and a car battery with wires.
EOD personnel command detonated the cache.
There were no casualties.
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