“Charge of the Knights”
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Iraqi Special Operations Forces kill 14 criminals in Basra
Multi-National Corps- Iraq PAO
Balad, Iraq
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Iraqi Special Operation Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, killed 14 criminals March 31. The operation was directed by senior Iraqi leaders in the port city of Basra.
The ISOF planned and conducted the mission to capture and arrest the criminals in an abandoned school. According to recent intelligence information, these criminals planted improvised explosive devices along the roads leading to the school. They also set up defensive fighting positions around the facility.
The school was a staging point for armed assaults against Iraqi Security Forces as well as a storage facility for illegal weapons, ammunition and explosives.
The ISOF received small arms fire throughout the operation. Both ISOF and U.S. SF returned fire while a Coalition aircraft provided additional requested close-air support. During the operation, 14 armed individuals were killed.
While clearing buildings next to the school, ISOF also found and released six ISF members who were being held at the compound.
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Let’s see how else the News on Iraq is being reported today...
RFERL.org has this report out today...
The Iraqi government's operation in Al-Basrah was billed as a decisive battle to regain control of the southern city from what it called armed gangs and criminals. But the real focus of the operation seems to have been radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, the Imam Al-Mahdi Army... The intense response by al-Sadr's followers across southern Iraq and Baghdad seemed to catch the government off-guard. As the violence and instability spread, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government faced what appeared to be a widespread insurrection. At that point, a military option did not seem feasible... On March 30, after nearly a week of fighting, al-Sadr issued a nine-point statement calling on his followers not to attack government forces. He urged the government to stop its random raids on Sadrists, called for an amnesty for fighters in the Al-Mahdi Army, and the release of all imprisoned members of the Sadrist movement who have not been convicted of any crimes...
Read the rest of this report in full at link below...
Iraq: In Al-Basrah Aftermath, Iran's And Al-Sadr's Gain Is Al-Maliki's Loss
* BBC News reports...
An Iraqi commander has led a convoy through the stronghold of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr in Basra... Correspondents say the convoy was intended as a show of force and that it met no significant resistance... It went through the Hayaniya district - the scene of heavy fighting last week between troops and Shia militia...
Read the rest at link below...
Iraqi army shows force in Basra
* IHT.com has this AP report...
A roadside bomb struck an armored vehicle carrying an Iraqi commander and a senior defense official Wednesday as they entered a Shiite militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra...Nobody was hurt in the blast, said the Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammed al-Askari, who was in the vehicle. In a separate attack, an Iraqi cameraman for the U.S.-funded Alhurra TV was shot and wounded as he filmed Iraqi troops in the oil-rich city...
Read this report in full at link below...
Roadside bomb hits Iraqi commander heading into Basra
* LongWarJournal.org has this take on the news today...
Three days after Muqtada al Sadr ordered the Mahdi Army to withdraw from the fighting in Baghdad and the Shia South, the fighting has dropped dramatically. The Iraqi government has denied that it has agreed to Sadr's terms, but has softened its rhetoric against Mahdi Army, instead shifting its focus on the "criminal elements" just as the US military has done over the past year. Meanwhile, the Iraqi security forces are continuing operations in Basrah...
Read the rest at link below...
Iraqi military continues operations in Basrah
* Austin Bay weighs in with this article at the RealClearPolitics website and it starts off like this...
After his outlaw militiamen raised white flags and skedaddled from their latest round of combat with the Iraqi Army, radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr declared victory... He always does. He understands media bravado. He wagers that survival bandaged by bombast and swathed in sensational headlines is a short-term triumph. Survive long enough, and Sadr bets he will prevail... This time, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a contrarian press release, however, calling the Iraqi Army's anti-militia operations in southern Iraq a "success."...
Read the rest HERE
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* British Troops Stay in Basra *
News Video Courtesy of DoD
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