Troops seize weapons cache
I just love hearing success stories like this. It may be older news, but it is new to my eyes! Way to go! We should all be proud of a job very well done!
Excerpt:
Troops seize weapons cache
By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
Published: May 3rd, 2007 01:58 PM
WASHINGTON — A major clearing operation that wrapped up last week in Baghdad succeeded in putting a dent in potential roadside bombing activities, jailing 42 terrorists, and seizing enough weapons and explosives to outfit an enemy infantry battalion, the commander of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade reported last week.
Col. Steven Townsend, commander of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, described sweeping success in Operation Arrowhead Strike 9, which kicked off March 20 to clear west-central Baghdad’s Mansour security district. The operation “significantly reduced insurgent activity” in the region in support of Task Force Dagger ground forces, Townsend told Pentagon reporters via videoconference from Camp Liberty.
The “Arrowhead Brigade” Soldiers worked hand-in-hand throughout the 36-day campaign with the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which controls the battle space, and Iraqi forces.
Townsend tallied the operation’s gains: three confirmed terrorists killed in close combat, 161 suspects detained for questioning, with 42 of them placed in long-term detention. Two kidnap victims were rescued, after being found chained in empty houses. “Both had been tortured and would surely have been executed eventually,” Townsend said.
The most impressive yield of the operation came in terms of 92 weapons caches found during the operation, he said. The troops captured and destroyed 356 small arms, mortars and or rocket-propelled grenades, 147 explosive munitions, three car bombs, two suicide vests, and 143 completed or partial roadside bombs.
Some of these munitions were from Iran, China and former Warsaw Pact countries, but it wasn’t possible to tell how long they had been in Iraq, he said.
In addition, the troops captured a roadside bomb electronics factory that held components for up to 3,200 additional bombs, and destroyed three homemade explosives factories found in abandoned homes, Townsend said. But the real significance of Operation Arrowhead Strike 9, he said, extends far beyond the actual weapons, bomb-making materials and suspects captured.
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