Thursday, April 27, 2006

Coalition Forces Kill 12 Terrorists in Iraq
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2006 – Coalition forces killed 12 terrorists during a raid on a safe house in Yusifiyah, Iraq, yesterday, U.S. officials said.
The safe house was associated with foreign terrorists. Multiple intelligence sources led the troops to the specific structure, about 8 kilometers from the location where a U.S. Apache helicopter crashed April 1.

Upon arrival, the troops took direct fire and immediately engaged with small-arms fire as well as machine-gun fire from helicopters. The first terrorist who ran out of the safe house upon the troops' arrival was attempting to launch the shoulder-fired rocket and was immediately engaged and killed. The troops initially killed five terrorists outside the safe house and then called for an air strike to neutralize the persistent direct fire coming from the safe house.

After the precision air strike, ground troops conducted a tactical search of the destroyed safe house and located the bodies of seven more terrorists and a woman. Every male who was found in the rubble was wearing an AK-47 vest with two loaded magazines and two grenades. The troops also discovered suicide notes on one terrorist, body bombs, weapons to include a shoulder-fired rocket, and ammunition.

Two wanted terrorists, one potentially transnational, were believed to be operating from this safe house. However, officials were not sure if the two were killed in the raid. Coalition forces are currently determining the identity of those killed, officials said. The troops destroyed the weapons, suicide vests, body bombs and ammunition on site.

In other news from Iraq, Task Force Band of Brothers soldiers detained a suspected triggerman yesterday shortly after he detonated a roadside bomb against a coalition convoy in Dawr. A coalition aircraft spotted the man hiding on a nearby rooftop when the attack occurred. Soldiers from the convoy were guided to the building and captured the suspect.

The man tested positive for explosives residue and was detained for further questioning. No soldiers were injured in the attack.

Elsewhere, Task Force Band of Brothers soldiers shot and killed a terrorist preparing a mortar attack in Samarra yesterday. Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, saw three men drive a truck over the security berm that surrounds the city and begin setting up a mortar system.

The soldiers engaged the men before they could fire the mortar, killing one and forcing the other two to flee. A search of the truck uncovered two mortar systems, 13 mortar rounds, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher with two warheads, and several items commonly used in constructing improvised explosive devices.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)

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