Iraqi, U.S. Forces Detain More Than 100 Insurgents

Military officials in Baghdad reported today that over the past 48 hours alone, more than 100 insurgents have been taken into custody.

Three insurgents were killed and three others were wounded by U.S. soldiers responding to an attack on their patrol near Kanan Jan. 18. Military officials said the patrol heard small-arms fire in the area and was attacked soon afterward. No soldiers were injured.

Iraqi and U.S. forces rounded up 15 suspected insurgents, including a suspected former intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein's regime, during a pre-dawn raid near Jabella, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. Special Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marine and Army teams swarmed a group of houses believed to shelter several militants and hide weapons and munitions stockpiles. The raid also uncovered a small weapons cache, including 11 rifles and shotguns and 1,500 rounds of ammunition.

In northern Babil province, 19 suspected insurgents were arrested Jan. 18 after they attacked a Marine patrol. The Marines confiscated several rifles.

In southern Baghdad, Task Force Baghdad soldiers detained nine suspected insurgents after a nighttime attack Jan. 18. And 12 more suspected insurgents were captured during nine separate raids Jan. 18 in western Baghdad.

Multinational forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), operating in Mosul, detained nine people during two separate operations. In yet another series of engagements, Iraqi army and multinational forces captured 36 insurgents during joint raids near Tikrit. Soldiers from the 202nd Iraqi Army Battalion and multinational forces captured 25 insurgents and confiscated 14 vehicles in a Jan. 18 raid near Samarra. Near Balad, 1st Infantry Division soldiers detained 11 people and seized explosive device-making materials along with three AK-47 assault rifles, one RPK machine gun, three pistols and ammunition.

In the Anbar province, Iraqi and multinational forces captured some 50 insurgents and discovered two of the largest weapon caches in recent months. There, Marines and soldiers with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force detained 41 suspected insurgents and discovered several weapons caches that contained among other items: 12 rocket-propelled-grenade rounds, 13 RPG launchers, four AK-47 assault rifles, thousands of rifle and machine gun ammunition rounds, and hundreds of rocket and mortar rounds.

Elsewhere, Iraqi forces in Fallujah discovered a weapons cache consisting of RPG rounds, rocket launchers, grenades, and 1,500 machine gun rounds.

In other news from Iraq:

The Iraqi chief of human rights and a relative were killed in Kirkuk during an attack Jan. 18, Iraqi police reported. A third Iraqi civilian was wounded in the attack.

An Iraqi police officer is being held at a Multinational Force Iraq facility for questioning in a death threat on an Iraqi army officer in Dujayl.

Task Force Baghdad soldiers uncovered two improvised explosive devices Jan. 18, one in eastern Baghdad and another on the west side. Both devices were destroyed.

A group of Iraqis attacked a convoy with rocks near Balad Jan. 18, damaging the windshield on a military vehicle. Fifteen individuals were detained for questioning and then turned over to Iraqi police. No multinational forces were injured in the incident.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq new releases.)