Free Republic

BALAD RUZ, Iraq – After seven days of combined operations south of Balad Ruz, Iraqi Army Soldiers, in partnership with 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, continue to discover large weapons caches and destroy anti-Iraqi forces throughout the Turki Village area. “Our forces have been able to adapt to all situations, and have shown their ability to conduct intelligence-driven operations in different environments, terrain and conditions,” said Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and senior U.S. Army officer in the Diyala province. Having cleared over 200 kilometers of terrain, the 1st...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces killed eight terrorists and detained seven suspected terrorists during a series of raids which began Saturday and ended Monday to capture al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in the Tarmiyah area. During the second day of the raids, Coalition Forces began taking enemy fire as terrorists were attempting to remove weapons and explosives from a weapons cache on an island in the Tigris River. Coalition Forces engaged, killing four terrorists. That evening, more armed terrorists attempted to gain access to the weapons cache and began firing at a Coalition Forces security detail. Coalition Forces returned fire and...

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan and international troops killed at least 65 Taliban insurgents in battles in two southern provinces, each involving large groups of insurgents and lasting several hours, U.S. military officials said Saturday. The fighting Friday, coupled with other battles, brought to 100 the number of insurgents killed in the past three days, a record during a two-month period of combat that has been the most intense and deadly since the overthrow of the Taliban government in late 2001. In one encounter, about 40 insurgents attacked Afghan and foreign forces near Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, hiding...

As if the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq weren't enough of a message to that nation's insurgents to quit, now come reports of angry private citizens acting to stop a terrorist attack before it began. Last Tuesday, a Baghdad carpenter named Dhia and his relatives saw a group of masked gunmen with grenades coming to their shop and quickly opened fire on them, killing three. Their mainly Shiite neighborhood has seen recent attacks by the mainly Sunni terrorists. This preemptive citizen attack, done in the absence of a strong police presence, sends another signal that Iraqis really do want stability...

A Wyandanch man fatally shot a 20-year-old man who tried to enter his home through a window early yesterday, police said. Tyrell Rudolph, of Wyandanch, was discovered in front of a home on Parkway Boulevard with gunshot wounds to his chest and left arm at 3:05 a.m. The alleged shooter, Sanjay Broomfield, 22, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a felony. Broomfield, a baker at Entenmann's in Bay Shore, told police he fell asleep Friday night, after working a double-shift, said Det. Sgt. Vincent Posillico, of the county's homicide squad. He said he was awoken at 9 p.m....