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NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894   November 16, 2003Release Number: 03-11-24 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OPERATION IVY CYCLONE II TIKRIT, Iraq – The 4th Infantry Division and Task Force Ironhorse has launched a series of combined arms operations to include air and ground strikes against identified targets, along with precision raids against non-compliant groups and individuals focused on neutralizing paramilitary, former regime loyalists, foreign fighters and other extremist and subversive elements within task force area of responsibility. Operation Ivy Cyclone II will utilize actionable intelligence combined...

Commander, U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno Wednesday, June 18, 2003 Maj. Gen. Odierno Videoteleconference from BaghdadThe 4th Infantry Division's 20,000 soldiers deployed later in the combat operations than other divisions, but all along, they represented a formidable combat force and played a pivotal role in the way this conflict was strategized and conducted. Today, their role is formidable in a different way as they work the front lines of the postwar stabilization process. Right now, over 27,000 troops of Task Force Iron Horse stand vigilant throughout a sprawling area that encompasses three provinces in northeastern...

* Iraq’s former air chief captured * US military compound near Baghdad attacked * Troops begin hunt for arms after deadline ends BAGHDAD: US troops unleashed overnight a new operation codenamed Desert Scorpion against forces loyal to ousted president Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq, a coalition spokesman said on Sunday. “It started last night, it is still ongoing,” said Sergeant 1st Class Brian Thomas from coalition Joint Task Force 7. “We are targeting anyone who is striking against US soldiers. Some of them are Baath Party members and some of them are against our peace efforts. We have detained people,...

US forces raid flashpoint town Falluja has seen many clashes between US troops and Iraqis US forces in Iraq have mounted a big operation to try to rein in the activities of militiamen still loyal to the ousted Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. About 1,300 soldiers from the US army's 3rd Infantry Division backed by tanks and helicopters raided the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad. The troops were acting on intelligence that Iraqi militia fighters are based in the town and that weapons are being stockpiled there for use against US forces. But three hours later they withdrew having made...

DEBKAfile Special Military Report June 15, 2003, 1:10 AM (GMT+02:00) US army hits back at Saddam loyalists who lean on clandestine support from Damascus The cat was out of the bag - almost - as a result of Operation Peninsula Strike, the massive US crackdown against a lethal brew of anti-American resistance forces which have been bedeviling US troops north of Baghdad. A substantial quotient of foreign combatants from Arab countries - Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians and Palestinians from Syria or Lebanon - was discovered to be mixed in with the Fedayeen Saddam, Baathists and former Republican Guards officers...

RAWAH, Iraq, June 13 -- The scorched cliff side, the charred bulrushes and the burned and bloodied mattresses showed how it started. Here in the desert, 200 miles northwest of Baghdad and 30 miles east of the Syrian border, dozens of anti-American guerrillas were killed when U.S. helicopters swooped in and rocketed the two large tents where they slept. The attack in the early morning hours Thursday was the most devastating since the war in Iraq officially ended more than a month ago, killing at least 68 fighters. For a day, this bleak landscape was the center of a new,...

BALAD, Iraq (AP) - A battle between tanks and guerrillas north of Baghdad shows the strategy U.S. forces are trying to use in their fight against pro-Saddam holdouts: draw opponents into the open, then pound them with helicopters and armor. U.S. forces killed 27 insurgents in Friday's battle in a rural area 30 miles north of Baghdad, bringing to nearly 100 the number of opposition forces killed in two days. Fighting intensified this week to its highest pitch since the war was officially declared over on May 1, and is likely to ratchet up even further as U.S. forces crack...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq — An Iraqi guerrilla ambush on a U.S. tank column north of Baghdad backfired on the attackers Friday, as the Americans quickly turned the tide and hunted down and killed 27 of the assailants.</p> <p>The skirmish was part of the continuing, four-day-old "Operation Peninsula Strike," intended to root out and destroy Saddam loyalists and Baath Party (search) fighters who have been harassing coalition forces. About 100 Iraqi fighters have been killed in four days of fighting, the U.S. military said.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq, (Reuters) - U.S. troops killed 27 Iraqis who they said ambushed a tank patrol Friday, after killing at least 70 at a guerrilla camp the day before, in the bloodiest clashes since major combat was declared over. The U.S. military has launched two big operations west and north of Baghdad this week to try to root out what it says are diehard Saddam Hussein loyalists behind a recent spate of attacks on American troops in mainly Sunni Muslim areas. A U.S. statement said an organized group of fighters had fired rocket-propelled grenades at a 4th Infantry Division tank...

BALAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and air pursuit Friday after the Iraqis attacked an American tank patrol north of Baghdad, bringing the opposition death toll in four days of skirmishes to about 100, according to the military. Friday's clash came as American forces pressed forward with a massive sweep to crush resistance by supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime north of Baghdad. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said U.S. forces were sifting through intelligence that "foreign fighters" may have been at an alleged terrorist training camp northwest of Baghdad bombed early...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and air pursuit Friday after the Iraqis attacked an American tank patrol north of Baghdad, the military said. The fighting came as U.S. forces pressed forward with a massive, four-day-old sweep to crush resistance by supporters of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime north of Baghdad. U.S. Central Command said an "organized group" ambushed the tanks with rocket propelled grenades in Balad, about 35 miles from the capital on the main highway north. The statement made no mention of U.S. casualties. The patrol returned fire and killed...

BALAD, Iraq - U.S. forces killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and air pursuit Friday after the Iraqis attacked an American tank patrol north of Baghdad, bringing the opposition death toll in four days of skirmishes to about 100, according to the military. Friday's clash came as American forces pressed forward with a massive sweep to crush resistance by supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime north of Baghdad. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said U.S. forces were sifting through intelligence that "foreign fighters" may have been at an alleged terrorist training camp northwest of Baghdad bombed early Thursday...

<p>Allied jet fighters bombed a terrorist camp in Iraq yesterday, and Army soldiers battled die-hard supporters of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, as the top U.S. military officer said that operations in Iraq to eliminate resisters will go on "for some time to come."</p>

US Troops Raid Iraqi 'Terrorist' Camp, Apache Down Thu June 12, 2003 12:15 PM ET By Andrew Marshall BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces attacked a guerrilla camp northwest of Baghdad on Thursday with air raids and ground troops, and battled irregular Iraqi fighters who brought down an Apache helicopter in the west of Iraq. Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, declined to say whether the Apache was shot down during the assault on what the U.S. army called a "terrorist training camp." He said the camp was attacked with "lethal force" in an operation that was...

U.S. Captures Suspected Saddam Loyalists By SLOBODAN LEKIC .c The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Using jet fighters, tank-buster aircraft and patrol boats, the U.S. military launched a massive operation to crush opposition north of Baghdad and captured nearly 400 suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists in a bid to end daily attacks against American soldiers. Code-named ``Operation Peninsula Strike'' and involving thousands of American troops, the push began Tuesday and was centered on the Tigris River town of Thuluya 45 miles north of Baghdad, the Central Command said. While the command did not mention Saddam, a leader of an Iraqi...

Lethal Attacks Against Troops Prompts Roundup of Hussein Loyalists By Daniel Williams Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, June 11, 2003; 4:58 PM THULUYA, Iraq, June 11 -- U.S. military forces, responding to increasingly frequent and lethal attacks by Iraqi gunmen, staged a major operation this week aimed at rounding up suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists in this Tigris River town 45 miles north of Baghdad. The campaign, designated Operation Peninsula Strike, was described by U.S. officials as the biggest since the end of the Iraq war. Working from intelligence tips, U.S. troops tried to track down members of the Fedayeen Saddam...

THULUIYA, Iraq, June 11 — American forces completed their largest combat operation in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad today, with more than 3,000 soldiers backed by fighter jets, armored vehicles and patrol boats surrounding a 30-square mile peninsula north of Baghdad that is said to harbor gunmen attacking American soldiers. Two brief gun battles erupted when American forces entered this farming town early Monday, American commanders said. Four Iraqis died, four Americans were wounded and 375 Iraqi men were detained. Iraqi civilians said American soldiers handcuffed women and children, beat one man to death and allowed another to die...

CENTCOM:   June 10, 2003Release Number: 03-06-39 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TASK FORCE "IRONHORSE" LAUNCHES OPERATION PENINSULA STRIKE CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- During the early morning hours of June 9th, Task Force Ironhorse soldiers conducted a series of raids to eradicate Ba’ath Party loyalists, paramilitary groups and other subversive elements located on a peninsula along the Tigris River, northeast of Balad, Iraq. The raids signaled the start of Operation Peninsula Strike. The operation took place in two major stages. The first stage of the operation involved moving soldiers and equipment into strike positions, intelligence gathering, and coordination with local police. During...