A, MND-B Soldiers act on a tip, cordon off MOH to look for kidnap victims
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Iraqi army and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers set a cordon around an Iraqi Ministry of Health complex in order to search for kidnapped Iraqi citizens at approximately 2:30 a.m. today.
Coalition Forces received a tip at 12:44 a.m. today that 15 criminals wearing Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped six Iraqi citizens from Baghdad Medical City Emergency and took the kidnapped victims to MOH.
Iraqi soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and a Coalition Forces Military Transition Team, accompanied by the Iraqi citizen who called in the tip, cordoned the MOH to search for the victims.
While no kidnap victims were found, five detainees were taken in for further questioning based on their positive identification by the tipster.
Iraqi Security Forces are continuing the investigation.
MND-B Soldiers detain key figure in Mahmudiyah terrorist group
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – A patrol of Soldiers from D Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, detained a key terrorist cell leader while conducting a cordon and search southwest of Baghdad at approximately 10:20 a.m. Thursday.
The cell leader is directly linked to the July 17 attack on a local market in Mahmudiyah. The attack resulted in 40 local national deaths and 70 more wounded.
“Our Soldiers are simply awesome. This is the third top member of this violent and elusive terrorist cell we have detained in recent weeks,” said Col. Todd Ebel, commander, 2nd Bde., 101st Abn. Div. “In continuing our work with the Iraqi Security Forces, we will aggressively exploit all information found that will likely lead to more members of this cell being captured.”
ISF, MND-B forces push ‘Operation Together Forward’ into western Baghdad
BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces, supported by Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, continued their combined effort today in western Baghdad’s Shula and Ameriyah neighborhoods in support of Operation Together Forward.
The combined operations on simultaneous objectives are led by the soldiers of 1st and 5th Brigades from the 6th Iraqi Army Division, and policemen from 5th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, supported by Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, and 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
The operations are designed to reduce the level of murders, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorism and sectarian violence in northwest Baghdad and to reinforce the Iraqi government’s control in Iraq’s capital city.
Soldiers from 1st and 5th Bde., 6th IAD, along with Soldiers from 2nd BCT, 1st Arm. Div., began an operation today to search approximately 4,000 homes and businesses in the Ameriyah neighborhood.
“Security in Baghdad is the top priority for everyone working in Operation Together Forward. We continue to work very closely with Iraqi Security Forces in a major effort to clear this area of terrorists and death squads. Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces are working side by side every day to increase security in Baghdad and help the Iraqi people return to a more normal domestic life,” said Col. Robert Scurlock, commander of the 2nd BCT, 1st Armor Div.
Policemen from 5th Bde., 2nd INP Div., and 1st Bde., 6th IAD, along with Soldiers from 172nd SBCT, began a simultaneous operation today to search homes and businesses in the Shula neighborhood.
General: Trust key to Baghdad security
Story by Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service
Army Maj. Gen. James Thurman, commander of Multi-National Division - Baghdad, said forces have been concentrating on four major hot spots.
Essentially, the concept calls on Coalition and Iraqi forces to cordon off an area and search each street, house by house, Thurman said.
Al-Doura, a mixed Shiia and Sunni area, is one of the hotspots. The area had 20 sectarian murders one night before the operation started. The plan zeroes in on reducing the number of murders, kidnappings, assassinations and car bombs, Thurman said.
Al-Doura has about 135,000 people living in more than 16,000 homes. Iraqi forces carry most of the water in the operation. They search the mahalas – neighborhoods – that are causing the problems. “We’ve dropped the violence down to near nothing,” Thurman said.
Iraqi security fForces, supported by Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, continued their combined effort Sunday in western Baghdad’s Shula and Ameriyah neighborhoods.
The combined operations on simultaneous objectives are led by the soldiers of 1st and 5th Brigades from the 6th Iraqi Army Division, and policemen from 5th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, supported by Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, and 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
“Security in Baghdad is the top priority for everyone working in Operation Together Forward. We continue to work very closely with Iraqi security forces in a major effort to clear this area of terrorists and death squads,” said Col. Robert Scurlock, 1st Armor Division's 2nd Brigade commander. “Iraqi security forces and Coalition forces are working side by side every day to increase security in Baghdad and help the Iraqi people return to a more normal domestic life.”
The 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team gives Multi-National Division - Baghdad added mobility, flexibility and agility to maneuver anywhere in the city, Thurman said. The unit was due to rotate back to Alaska following a year in the Mosul area. The Army extended its time in Iraq for up to 120 days and assigned it to Baghdad.
The civil work is key to getting the Iraqis to stop the cycle of tit-for-tat sectarian murders. Iraqi officials in al-Doura are clearing the garbage from the streets, dismantling illegal roadblocks and engaging with district and neighborhood advisory councils. The people in the mahalas have confidence that life will improve for them, and that the government is the way forward, Thurman said.
Once the Iraqi security forces clear the neighborhood, Iraqi police hold the area and Iraqi officials work to ensure the essential services – electricity, water and sewage – are working in those areas. Other local officials work to ensure economic opportunity in the area.
“The Battle of Baghdad is about perception and building trust and confidence in the average citizen of Iraq,” Thurman said.
The general said the operation will spread to other hot spots in Baghdad. “The whole Mansour area is a hot spot,” he said. “We’ve got a positive trend happening, but it’s the will of the Iraqi people that we need to continue (to encourage). We will work closely with the Iraqi government to deal with the sectarian strife. I believe the average Iraqi is tired of violence.”
CAMP HABBANIYAH — Jill Carroll’s kidnappers are now locked up.
Marines captured four members of an insurgent kidnapping cell responsible for the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor.
Marines of L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment captured and detained three members May 19, in a small village west of Fallujah. A fourth member of the same kidnapping cell was detained later by Marines of 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.
Both battalions operated as part of Regimental Combat Team 5.
Carroll was held hostage by insurgent captors for 82 days between January and March 2006.
“A piece of intelligence came to our attention a month prior to May that the kidnap house might be in a certain area,” said 2nd Lt. J. H. Cusack, Scout-Sniper Platoon Commander, Headquarters and Support Company.
But the information wasn’t enough for Marines to act upon. They needed more. One month went by before another clue gave them the green light.
“We went out west of Fallujah and went off key indicators and identified some specific things that led us to believe this was the place,” Cusack explained. “Based on what we’d seen, we knew we had a small window of time to get this guy.”
The next morning, Cusack rode with L Company’s personnel security detachment to return to search the house.
They met enemy resistance on the way to the house. Two improvised explosive devices detonated near the convoy.
“The lead vehicle got hit twice,” said Cpl. Estafanos Getahun, a scout-sniper with L Company PSD. “Getting there was more interesting than getting to the hit. It was beginning to look like a hard hit.”
Sgt. Jeff Bell, a platoon sergeant assigned to Headquarters Platoon, L Company, said he didn’t know the mission would make headlines when they made it to the house.
“Once I set foot in the front door, I was told what was actually going on in the house,” said the 27-year-old from Littleton, Colo.
Marines didn’t go in guns blazing. They talked the owner into allowing them into the house. Once inside, based on prior intelligence it became clear they were on target.
Marines gathered the family into one room while Marines searched the remaining rooms. Every corner, every drawer, every shelf was searched.
“We methodically went room-to-room and searched the cupboards, pulled everything out,” Bell said. “If it was there, it got searched.”
Inside, they found a number of items that confirmed the identities of the insurgents, including incriminating documents and $3,600 in American paper currency.
Marines had what they needed to take the three into custody. Still, they lingered. The three weren’t exhibiting any outward signs of nervousness, and Marines took a few minutes while several from their team were fixing the IED-damaged humvee.
“We were still fixing a flat tire from the IED,” Cusack said. “As soon as it was fixed we put everything together.”
“While the Marines were fixing it, people thought it was a normal thing they were doing,” said Getahun, 27, from Las Vegas. “It gave them some peace, because they thought it was a different thing. Then they arrested them.”
“As we were leaving, we said, ‘You’re coming with us,’” Cusack said.
Marines didn’t realize until a couple weeks later the significance of their seizure of the kidnappers. They took in those responsible for targeting an American for kidnapping and also found out that they were key members of a cell responsible for local attacks against Marines.
“A couple weeks later on we heard they were connected to some cells that were setting IEDs and firing rockets in the area,” Getahun said. “It did help us secure the route to Habbaniyah.”
“It’s a pretty good feeling knowing you got the guys who did such a horrible thing,” Bell said. “Hopefully it keeps that particular cell from repeating the kidnappings. Hopefully we can kind of quell that with this huge cell getting taken down and the other guys take note of that, knowing there’s nowhere to hide.”
Cusack said although the Darkhorse battalion arrested numerous insurgents during their seven months in Iraq, this raid held special meaning.
“We detained lots of bad guys over here, lots of kidnappers,” he said. “But this one connects with an American, someone people back home knew about. That makes it satisfying to have that direct connection to something people can relate to.”
Marines from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment have since redeployed to the United States, finishing a seven-month deployment to Iraq.
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Iraq
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