 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Twenty-nine of the patrols were joint operations conducted with the Iraqi police, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and the Border Guard. Weapons and equipment confiscated in raids and patrols throughout the Task Force Ironhorse area of operation include six AK-47 assault rifles, three SKS automatic rifles, seven rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, 35 mortar rounds, 23 sticks of dynamite, 201 tank rounds, 1,201 artillery rounds, 90 rockets of various sizes, 15 rocket warheads and three improvised explosive devices. Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s 3d Brigade Combat Team conducted a joint raid with ICDC forces in coordination with the Baghdad police to capture Nahdem Al Marsumi, the leader of a terrorist cell trying to operate out of Samarra. During the raid, coalition forces captured seven individuals including Marsumi and five men known to be a part of the terrorist cell. The ICDC also captured an individual suspected of being involved in an attack at the Samarra City Council building last month. Once the ICDC soldiers received a tip from a local source on the whereabouts of Marsumi, they organized and initiated the raid and were on site within two hours of receiving initial reports. Task Force Ironhorse soldiers from the 555th Engineer Group located a cache of ammunition buried approximately five kilometers east of Forward Operating Base Speicher Feb. 27. The soldiers found more than a thousand rounds of high explosive artillery and mortar rounds and 50 BLU-97 submunitions. The site was secured and an explosive ordinance team will destroy the cache in place. While on his way to work Feb. 27, an ICDC soldier observed some men digging near a house north of Baiji. He reported the suspicious activity to his supervisor who sent an ICDC patrol to investigate. The patrol discovered an ammunition cache. They established an over-watch position on the house and captured one individual suspected of burying the ammunition when he returned to the site later that afternoon. The ICDC seized the cache and turned in it to 4th ID soldiers. The cache included 20 68 mm helicopter rockets, seven rocket-propelled grenades, 17 82 mm mortar rounds and six 60 mm mortar rounds. Working together, 4th Infantry Division soldiers from 3d Battalion 67th Armor Regiment, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and Iraqi police captured five individuals suspected of anti-coalition activities in a joint raid in the town of As Sadah in Diyala Province 27 Feb. The individuals are suspects in the bombing of a local health clinic. An Iraqi led soldiers from Task Force Ironhorse’s 14th Engineer Battalion to three weapon caches approximately 20 kilometers north of Tikrit Feb. 27. The caches included five 82 mm rockets and 15 rocket warheads. All three caches were destroyed in place. While on patrols as part of Operation Trailblazer to clear the highways of IEDs, soldiers from the 14th Engineer Battalion discovered a cache consisting of 201 100 mm tank rounds located approximately 150 feet off the north side of Highway One west of Balad. The cache was destroyed in place without incident. |
