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The outcomes of the Security Lightning operations are the arresting of 1215 and wanted since the beginning of these operations and until now. 49 weapons dens have been found, while the implementers of the military activities had arrested 91 suspects in Baghdad and other cities.The Iraqi government announced that the security forces were arrested terrorist Abu Talah’s two assistants in Mosul.

Okay, I think that "Lightning" updates have become a regular item on this blog, so here's today's-rather short-briefing of what's been happening as to this operation and other activities of security forces in Iraq in the last 24 hours: Since the Operation Lightning started 1215 were arrested and 49 weapons caches were found, 303 searches and inspections and 67 raids were performed. Also the number of checkpoints placed reached a total of 1519 and 4340 patrols roamed the streets of Baghdad; an Iraqi government official said yesterday. As to the operations of yesterday; government officials said that 91 terrorists and...

During the latest 24 hours of operation lightening in Baghdad, 128 suspects and wanted criminals were arrested and amounts of different weapons and ammunitions were discovered: The 2nd brigade of the interior ministry has arrested 16 terrorists in "Street 60" in Al-Doura area and other 7 suspects in Al-Sha'ab district. Also in Al-Doura but this time forces of the 3rd regiment arrested 5 terrorists among whom was an "Amir", i.e. a terror cell leader. 10 other suspects were arrested in another area in Baghdad and some weapons were confiscated in the arrest. In Al-Mansour area, 3 criminals who were trying...

AUSTRALIAN hostage Douglas Wood who was kidnapped in Iraq has been released in a military operation, Prime Minister John Howard told parliament tonight. Mr Howard said Mr Wood was under the protection of an Australian team sent to Baghdad to negotiate his release. "He's now under the protection of the Australian emergency response team in Baghdad," he told parliament. "I understand that he is well, he's undergoing medical checks at the present time." Mr Howard said Australians would be jubilant about the news of Mr Wood's release. "This man has suffered immensely," he said. "I want on behalf of all...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - 0615iraq-hostage Iraqi and U.S. forces, acting on a tip, raided a dangerous Sunni neighborhood Wednesday and freed an Australian hostage who was hidden beneath a blanket, officials said. Elsewhere, 38 people died in insurgent attacks, including 25 killed when a bomber dressed in Iraqi army uniform blew himself up in a mess hall. Douglas Wood, a 64-year-old engineer who is a longtime resident of Alamo, Calif., said he was "extremely happy and relieved to be free again," according to a message read by Australia's counterterrorism chief Nick Warner. Wood emerged from the compound from which he'd...

BAGHDAD, June 11 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Sulagh said on Saturday that insurgent attacks in Baghdad have dramatically decreased since launching Operation Al-Barq, asserting that Iraqi security forces will establish full security in Baghdad within the next six months. In a press conference in Baghdad, the minister said that the number of car-bomb attacks in Baghdad have decreased from 14 attacks a day to one or two attacks only, while the number of arrested insurgents increased from 10 to 85 a day, noting that Operation Al-Barq has a 90 percent success rate. Sulagh added that the number...

TAJI, Iraq (Army News Service, June 8, 2005) – The Iraqi Army’s Operation Lightning resulted in several detainees and weapons confiscations in Taji and across Iraq, said military officials. Searches in Taji are part of the larger Iraqi Army operation to disrupt the enemy’s ability to attack the legitimately-elected government and innocent citizens of Iraq. The first few days of the operation have provided several good leads. Elements of 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division; 1st Battalion, 13th Armor Regim----

MUSAYYIB, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces said on Monday they had driven some insurgents out of Baghdad to towns south of the capital and now hoped to capture them there before they could regroup. Security officials said Operation Lightning, described as the biggest offensive since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, had pushed guerrillas into an area known as the "triangle of death" because of its high rate of insurgent attacks. "There's a security vacuum in this area, we must fill it to prevent terrorists from operating inside Baghdad. This must be done while the operation is continuing...

LATIFIYAH, Iraq (AP) - Hundreds of Iraqi and U.S. troops searched fields and farms Saturday for insurgents and their hideouts in an area south of Baghdad known for attacks, and the Marines said they discovered 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a huge underground bunker west of the capital fitted out with air conditioning, a kitchen and showers. The joint U.S.-Iraqi force operating in Latifiyah to the south was backed by American air power and said it had rounded up at least 108 Iraqis, mainly Sunnis, suspected of involvement in the brutal insurgent campaign to topple the Shiite-led government. To...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 4 - American marines have discovered an elaborate series of underground bunkers used recently by insurgents in central Iraq, with heavy weapons, a kitchen and fresh food, furnished living quarters, showers and even a working air-conditioner, the military said Saturday. The bunkers were built into an old rock quarry north of the town of Karma, an insurgent stronghold in Anbar Province that lies near the city of Falluja. The bunker system measures 546 feet by 883 feet, making it the largest underground insurgent hide-out to be discovered in at least the past year, if not during the...

LATIFIYAH, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqi and U.S. troops searched fields and farms Saturday for insurgents and their hideouts in an area south of Baghdad known for attacks, and the Marines said they discovered 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a huge underground bunker west of the capital fitted out with air conditioning, a kitchen and showers.

LATIFIYAH, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqi and U.S. troops searched fields and farms Saturday in an area known as the Triangle of Death, hunting throughout a searingly hot late spring day for hideouts used by predominantly Sunni Arab militants to mount suicide attacks against nearby Baghdad. They rounded up at least 108 Iraqis suspected of involvement in the brutal campaign by insurgents to topple the Shiite-led government. An Iraqi believed to be a top terror leader in northern Iraq also was captured by U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul, and Iraqi Lt. Col. Abu Fahad Alkhasali said 19 suspected insurgents...

Yesterday, security forces had arrested 165 wanted during raids in Baghdad, Karbala, Deyala, Ramadi, Mosul and Basra, some of which 92 terrorists capture in the extent of Operation Lightning. As, security fortification is taking place in Baghdad to confine terrorists and prevent them from hurting the innocent civilians. A statement issued by headquarters of Operation Lightning mentioned that Iraqi security forces had arrested 92 terrorists in different places from Baghdad and seized a Chevrolet car, a wireless set, 2 AK-47, 2 pistols and 1 RPG-7.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roberto L. Garcia, government team chief, 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade, tosses a t-shirt to an Iraqi child at a village outside Baghdad, May 16, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp

(Speculation alert)  Operation Thunder was supposed to be the code-name of a security sweep by 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen in the Baghdad area. The existence of a parallel or separate operation, codenamed Operation Lightning has been announced to the public in connection with the arrest of one Saddam's intelligence generals, now believed to be a mastermind in the insurgency.  In their biggest coup of Operation Lightning, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers arrested a former general in Saddam Hussein's intelligence service who was also a member of his Fedayeen secret police during a raid in western Baghdad, the scene of some...

Iraqi police fought pitched battles with insurgents Sunday as thousands of security forces backed by American troops swept through Baghdad’s streets to flush out militants responsible for killing more than 720 people since Iraq’s new government was announced in April. Insurgents lashed back—killing at least 30 people, including a British soldier—and a senior U.S. military intelligence official acknowledged there are few indications they “are packing their bags.” Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for nearly all the attacks in Internet statements that could not be independently verified. In their biggest coup of “Operation Lightning,” Iraqi and U.S. soldiers...