CJ’s IED Roll-Up and News

Only a few stories this week. Due to this, one can deduce a few things: the insurgents are unable to acquire the necessary materials because of our efforts or the enemy is getting better at concealing it. If you pay attention to the news, the number of attacks by IEDs are declining. The number of small arms attacks are become more commonplace. This is good because we can action against small arms attacks. It's no secret where they come from. IEDs are planted by ghosts most of the time.

Personally, I think the insurgency is faltering. I can track that back to the day when Zarqawi released his video and we released the unedited version of the same video showing him to be the idiot he is. Unfortunately, all the progress we made is being rolled back because of this Haditha story. The terrorists are revelling in these accusations. As a matter of fact, they've found a new way to defeat us. The court of popular American opinion is a great battlefield on which they fight. I will not be surprised if more and more Iraqis suddenly appear with "gunshot wounds" to their heads. The victims will be women and children. They will mysteriously appear to coincide with military raids to give the impression that WE committed the attrocities. Don't get me wrong, if the Marines committed the ALLEGED acts of inhumanity, they need to be harshly dealt with.

This week saw the identification of more than 170 IEDs before they hit the streets. This equates to more than 1700 people kept safe from their devastating effects. Here's this week's IED Roll-Up:

May 30 - Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division reported that Iraqi Police officers found an arms cache near a local gas station. The cache contained six 120 mm rounds and a large amount of TNT, which was seized for later disposal. No injuries or damages were reported.

May 30 - Iraqi forces raided two targets in the Karada area of Baghdad and detained seven individuals responsible for improvised explosive device attacks against Iraqi Security Forces. The first target was a dormitory on the campus of the Baghdad Technical University where two student cells, operating out of dormitory rooms, built IEDs and later initiated attacks against Iraqi Army and Police forces. Iraqi forces detained four students on this target. On the second target, an apartment building near the campus, Iraqi forces detained three cell leaders responsible for emplacing IEDs made by their student cells. All three cell leaders are believed to be Palestinians and they were financed by a local business. This cell is responsible for at least two attacks against Iraqi security and police forces in the Karada area. The first attack, in December 2005, resulted in no casualties. The second attack, in January of this year, killed several Iraqi police officers riding in a vehicle. No Iraqi forces were killed or wounded during this operation.

May 31 - Soldiers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad's Troop A, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a large weapons cache and ammunition aboard a wheat dump truck northwest of Baghdad May 30 at approximately 6 p.m. Soldiers had stopped the truck May 9 and discovered seven fuses, 15 mortar tips and wire commonly used in roadside bombs. However, it wasn't until May 30, while the unit was looking for additional evidence, that they found the weapons hidden under bags of wheat in the bed of the truck. The cache consisted of twenty-eight 107 mm Katusha rockets, 82 anti-personnel land mines, 43 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, one RPG launcher, two 60 mm mortar systems, one 81 mm mortar system, thirty 60 mm mortar rounds, 33 rocket-propellant sticks, and other bomb-making materials. The driver of the truck was detained May 9. Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, also discovered a weapon cache while conducting a cordon and search of buildings in western Baghdad May 31 at approximately 11 a.m. The cache consisted of four Russian-made bombs and three hand grenades.

May 31 - Iraqi Scouts raided a housing compound in Baghdad on May 31 and captured three insurgents who were members of an improvised explosive device cell. Scouts from the 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, assisted by Coalition force advisers, raided three separate objectives simultaneously in the Al Rasheed district in east central Baghdad . They captured three key members of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, or VBIED cell operating in the Al Doura area of Baghdad . This cell is responsible for making VBIEDs and carrying out attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces. The Scouts also detained five other individuals and captured two AK-47 assault rifles and six magazines, or approximately 180 rounds of AK-47 ammunition. According to a senior Coalition force adviser, this mission was a success because it was executed so rapidly the Scouts were able to achieve complete surprise. No Iraqi forces, Coalition forces or civilians were killed or wounded during this operation.


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