MND-B IA, 'REGULARS' DESTROY THREE TERRORIST CAHES

Release Date: 7/12/2006

Release Number: 06-07-01PE

Description: CAMP TAJI, Iraq – In a combined effort to rid the western Baghdad area of terrorist activity and to make Iraq a safer place to live, 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division soldiers, along with Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered three large caches of weapons and roadside bomb-making materials over a one-week period.

In the first of three weapon seizures, Iraqi army soldiers from 3rd Bde., 6th IA Div., discovered a sizeable weapons cache just north of Baghdad International Airport in the Shohada region June 30.

Following a tip from an Iraqi citizen, the Iraqi unit responded to a report of a roadside bomb planted near an elementary school. When the soldiers arrived to investigate the report, they discovered two 82mm mortar tubes, 19 82mm mortar rounds, eight rocket-propelled grenade rounds, an RPG launcher, 31 60mm mortar rounds, 91 mortar fuses, 48 fuses, two bullet-proof vests, eight AK-47s, ten grenades, seven TNT sticks, 57 shotgun shells, two Dragonov sniper rifles and more than 4,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition.

In the first week of July, Soldiers from 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt., discovered two weapon caches in the Ibrahim Bin Ali Village area. During the discoveries by two platoons in Company A, the Soldiers discovered five RPG launchers, three RPG rounds, an RPG site, two land mines and a 76mm projectile in a bag.

“Discovering these caches will definitely impair the insurgent’s ability to attack Coalition Forces,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Adkinson, noncommissioned officer in charge of battalion intelligence. “We have seen far too many innocent civilians getting killed.”

“As the ‘Regulars’ of Task Force 1-22 resume combat operations in a new area of operation, they have not skipped a beat,” said Staff Sgt. Andrew Atwater, plans and operations NCO, 1st Bn., 22nd Inf. Regt. “The task force continues to support the Iraqi people in their quest for a democratic way of life and enabling the government to stand up for the people through combined operations.”

After each cache discovery, Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams were called in to destroy the munitions.