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WASHINGTON, June 29, 2005 – Task Force Liberty soldiers seized a number of weapons and found a pair of weapons caches in north central Iraq today, military officials in Baghdad reported.
The 3rd Brigade Combat Team conducted an operation in the Baqubah area, seizing three improvised-explosive-device firing mechanisms, six rocket-propelled grenades, a machine gun, a sniper rifle and five AK-47 assault rifles. Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team found a cache with 20 60 mm mortar rounds and 36 57 mm anti-aircraft rounds near Samarra. Elsewhere, Iraq security forces and about 1,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers from Regimental Combat Team 2, made up of elements of 2nd Marine Regiment and 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Marine Division, continued a security operation in Iraq's Anbar province. Operation Saif - Arabic for "Sword" -- began early June 28 to clear the area along the Euphrates River between the cities of Haditha and Hit of terrorists and foreign fighters. The 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Division, composed of about 100 Iraqi soldiers, is fully integrated with Marine and Army units in Operation Saif, officials said. The company has attached its platoons to Marine and U.S. Army infantry companies. The majority of the units are conducting cordon-and-knock operations in and around Hit, a city of 120,000 people about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad. Several men were detained for questioning about large weapons cache sites discovered by Iraqi security forces, Marines and soldiers throughout the city, officials said. A Multinational Force Iraq statement today said no major battles or air strikes had yet taken place, and that basic utilities and access to medical treatment for the citizens of Hit have not been disrupted. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
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