CJ’s IED Roll-Up

April 28 - Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division led a joint raid with Coalition Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division in the town of Al Hak during Operation Babil Perimeter and detained five men and seized four weapons caches. Iraqi soldiers conducted a search of the homes to find suspected terrorists. Coalition troops provided a cordon around the town. Troops discovered two caches around the immediate area. After the initial search by the Iraqi troops, Coalition Soldiers used K-9 dogs and metal detectors to search the areas again and located two additional caches. In total, the caches contained an assortment of bombmaking materials and triggering devices, a 152 mm round, a 132 mm round, three 82 mm rounds, two PKC machine guns, an RPK light machine gun, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with two RPG rockets and a 57 mm aerial rocket with an improvised launcher.

April 29 - Seven insurgents with AK-47s were encountered and engaged by Soldiers from the 1-68 Combined Army Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Band of Brothers and 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division when the joint patrol observed them digging at a cache site in Baqubah. Both elements pursued the insurgents who retreated into a palm grove. The insurgents then broke contact and fled, swimming across the river. No injuries or damage were incurred by either of the units. At the site, an Iraqi police badge was found. Also discovered were four 155mm rounds, six silencers and numerous mortar rounds and hand grenades. The munitions were taken to a secured location for further investigation and controlled detonation.

April 30 - Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division and Coalition troops arrested three men in connection with insurgent activities and found a cache near Hit. The cache contained three assorted artillery rounds, an acetylene gas tank and several fuses. The detainees and cache contents were turned over to authorities for further investigation.

May 1 - Badrah Iraqi Police found eight small unidentified types of explosive devices north of Al Kut. Explosive ordnance personnel believed the munitions to be left over from previous wars in Iraq. During the search, Iraqi police officers also found one antitank mine, two 82 mm mortar grenades, 11 anti-tank guided missiles, three 122 mm artillery shells, 10 fuses, one 130 mm artillery shell and one 23mm anti-aircraft shell. Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal personnel were called in to secure and dispose of the munitions. No injuries or damage were reported.

May 2 - Soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division and Coalition troops got a tip from locals and found a bomb maker's cache northeast of Bayji. The cache contained three 155 mm artillery rounds. The ordnance was recovered for later disposal. No injuries or damages were reported.

In total, approximately 44 IEDs were prevented from being built and employed against US and Iraqi people. Over 350 people will not be affected by the vile devices terrorists have resorted to in order to further their extremist views. These are the points you won't see in many places. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone you think would like to read it. If you're a blogger, you are free to post it there as well.