Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17260&Itemid=21
Press Release A080224a
February 24, 2008
Coalition forces target Baghdad, Diyala terrorist networks; one killed, four detained
BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained four suspects Saturday and today during operations to disrupt al-Qaeda operating in central Iraq.
Saturday afternoon in Baghdad, Coalition forces killed a wanted terrorist and captured another wanted individual, both of whom were reportedly close associates of the al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leader for the networks operating in the city. During the operation, Coalition forces detained both individuals on site. One of the individuals then attempted to escape, lunging toward Coalition forces, who engaged the hostile threat, killing him.
In Baghdad today, Coalition forces captured an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq member involved in the planning of suicide attacks in the city. The suspect had reportedly arranged to receive a suicide vest in order to attack a group of Concerned Local Citizen recruits. Intelligence indicates the suspect is a close associate of several leaders involved in AQI networks throughout Baghdad. Information gained from this operation led Coalition forces to a nearby location, where they captured an alleged member of the city’s car bombing network, who is also believed to have been involved in attacks against CLCs.
During an operation east of Khan Bani Sad today, one suspected terrorist was detained at an alleged AQI meeting location associated with the suicide network in the Diyala River Valley. Nearby, Coalition forces directed a fixed-wing airstrike on a house assessed to be rigged with explosives.
“These captures represent continued and steady progress in disrupting al-Qaeda in Iraq networks in and around Baghdad,” said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman. “Iraqi and Coalition forces remain committed to ending al-Qaeda’s campaign of terror, helping create a safer country for all Iraqis.”
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1969529/posts
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QUOTE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1969529/posts?page=361#361
blog:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/mugniyah_behind_esta.php
“Mugniyah behind establishment of Mahdi Army”
By BILL ROGGIOFebruary 23, 2008 11:31 PM
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Imad Mugniyah, the senior Hezbollah military commander who was killed in Syria earlier this month, helped form the Mahdi Army, the military wing of the radical Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr, according to an Iraqi intelligence official. He was described as a “co-founder” of the Mahdi Army, Naharnet reported, based on a translation from the Iraqi daily Al Zaman.
Mugniyah helped form the Mahdi Army after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. He recruited from the Shia communities in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and then sent the recruits to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for training. “The 300 fighters were trained on the use of assault rifles, booby-trapping and kidnapping operations,” the unnamed intelligence official told Al Zaman.
Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Qods Force. Click image to view.
Once in Lebanon, the Mahdi Army recruits were sent to bases run by Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s Qods Force, the foreign special operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Hezbollah operates numerous bases in the Bekaa Valley, under the supervision of Syrian intelligence.
The links between Hezbollah and the Mahdi Army are not new. Mahdi Army fighters have admitted to training in inside Lebanon with Hezbollah, while Muqtada al Sadr also admitted his forces trained with Hezbollah and mirrored their tactics.
“We have formal links with Hezbollah, we do exchange ideas and discuss the situation facing Shiites in both countries,” Sadr told The Independent in August 2007. “It is natural that we would want to improve ourselves by learning from each other. We copy Hezbollah in the way they fight and their tactics, we teach each other and we are getting better through this.” Sadr also said his fighters trained in Lebanon while the Mahdi Army leadership conferred with Hezbollah over Israel’s plans in the Middle East.
Hezbollah is essentially the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Qods Force. Mugniyah was Hezbollah’s mastermind terrorist and also a senior leader in Qods Force.”
361 posted on 02/24/2008 2:30:41 AM PST by Cindy