Sunday, February 12, 2006

Iraqi Army Leads Operation - Weapons Cache Found and Destroyed

Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, cleared the rural village of Subiyhat of insurgents yesterday, marking their second independent operation, officials said today.

Marines from 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 8, assisted in the operation by providing security on the outer perimeter.

The operation resulted in the detention of four suspected insurgents and enhanced relations between the citizens of Subiyhat and the Iraqi army, officials said.

It was also another step toward the Iraqi unit's operational independence, said Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. David J. Furness.
Elsewhere, soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were tipped off by an Iraqi about a weapons cache Feb. 9.

The local national directed the combat patrol to the ammunition, which was buried in a field near a house north of Najaf, capital city in Najaf province.
The cache included 71 100 mm high explosive rounds, four weapons, eight 122 mm rounds and five 115 mm high explosive anti-tank rounds.

An explosive ordnance disposal team was dispatched to the site and cleared the cache.

In other news, soldiers provided humanitarian assistance Feb. 8 to 100 flood victims in Mulay al Moskaul.

Due to heavy flooding in the Tigris River basin, Mulay al Moskaul village had been isolated for five days.

Two Multinational Division Central South helicopters were used to assist Iraq in three different settlements in the area. Humanitarian aid included potable water, food, shoes, clothes, mattresses, hygienic items and toys.

Officials also reported that a 53-year-old male security detainee at Abu Ghraib died Feb. 11 at 1:20 p. m. from complications after being assaulted by an unknown number of detainees.

The detainee was transported to Task Force Med 344th, at Abu Ghraib, by the guards after the detainee reported the assault. The detainee quit breathing at 11:50 a. m. and medical personnel administered CPR and inserted a breathing tube. An attending physician pronounced him dead after he failed to respond to aggressive medical treatment.

The military Criminal Investigation Division is investigating the incident, which is standard procedure after any detainee death.

The detainee's remains will be transferred to the family upon completion of an autopsy, standing procedure for all detainees who die while in custody.
(Above courtesy of DoD - American Forces Press Service and taken from MNF-I Press Releases)

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