U.S., Iraqi Forces Kill Terrorists, Detain Suspects, Seize Weapons

Iraqi soldiers from 8th Iraqi Army Division, supported by Multinational Division Central South soldiers, killed two terrorists and detained four others in a small village in southern Diwaniyah province today. One coalition soldier was wounded. He was taken to a coalition forces medical facility and was reported to be in stable condition. The detainees are suspected of murder, kidnapping and selling drugs, officials said.

Task Force Band of Brothers soldiers uncovered weapons caches throughout northern Iraq yesterday. Local police and soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, along with U.S. troops from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, found artillery and mortar rounds and rockets near Muqdadiyah.

U.S. soldiers also discovered bomb-making materials near Logistics Support Area Anaconda, southeast of Balad. While investigating a suspected improvised explosive device, they noticed detonating cord running to a nearby house. The soldiers searched the house and found the materials.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team found mortar rounds and large artillery shells southwest of Kirkuk. A separate patrol north of Kirkuk found mortar rounds and rocket-propelled-grenade warheads.

Acting on a tip, troops from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, teamed with soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and local police to raid a house near Tal Afar. The security forces found a variety of IED-making materials in a portion of the house that officials said was extremely well hidden. A tip also led soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to mortar rounds and detonating fuses hidden in a Mosul cemetery.

Iraqi troops from the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, and coalition forces discovered a weapons cache yesterday south of Karmah. The cache contained 82 cases of 23 mm ammunition, one rocket-propelled grenade launcher and one RPG round.

Two terrorist bombers and two gunmen were killed yesterday during a series of unrelated incidents throughout northern Iraq.

Two terrorists were killed in Samarra early in the evening when an IED they were attempting to emplace detonated prematurely. Also in Samarra, soldiers killed one man and captured another during a brief engagement after the gunmen fired at their patrol.

A lone gunman was killed after shooting at a joint Iraqi-U.S. patrol near Balad. The soldiers searched the building he fired from and seized a variety of IED-making materials.

Iraqi and coalition soldiers in Mosul detained a man who was trying to follow them as they moved through a residential neighborhood. Iraqi soldiers questioned him, and detained him after he tested positive for explosives residue.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)