Several Troops Killed; Raids Lead to Suspects, Weapons

• Two 3rd Corps Support Command soldiers were killed and two others were injured in a vehicular accident while performing a combat logistical patrol northwest of Kirkuk at about 6:15 a.m. today.
• A Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died of wounds received in an improvised-explosive-device attack in Karabilah during Operation Steel Curtain, Nov. 10.
• Two soldiers assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died of wounds received from small- arms fire near Khalidiyah Nov. 10. Officials noted that several Army units are attached to 2nd MEF during operations in Iraq.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

In other news from Iraq, coalition forces acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens raided three suspected terrorist safe houses Nov. 10 to capture or kill members of a suspected al Qaeda suicide-bomber cell operating in the Baghdad area.

The safe house was suspected of being an operational base for a suicide-bomber cell with an alleged foreign fighter who was to carry out an attack in the near future. During the raid, coalition forces killed seven terrorists and detained five. The terrorists were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and explosives. One of the armed terrorists killed in the raid was also wearing a suicide-bomber vest.

Elsewhere, coalition air forces acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens raided a suspected al Qaeda terrorist mortar cache in the village of Qazwan, near Ramadi, Nov. 10 at approximately 3:43 a.m. This mortar cache was directly linked to terrorist mortar attacks on coalition and Iraqi security forces in the Ramadi region, U.S. officials said. Credible reporting indicated that a terrorist mortar cell was operating in the area.

Coalition forces raided the suspected location and found approximately 50 82 mm mortar rounds and a single mortar tube, which appeared to have been used recently. Coalition forces destroyed the mortar cache.

Task Force Baghdad soldiers detained a suspected triggerman after a bomb attack north of Baghdad Nov. 10. The U.S. soldiers were conducting a patrol along a highway in the area when they came under small-arms fire. The soldiers immediately cordoned off and searched around a flour factory from where they suspected the gunfire originated.

While the soldiers were establishing the secure perimeter, an improvised explosive device detonated nearby. One soldier was wounded in the blast from the two 122 mm rounds and was evacuated to a nearby medical treatment facility.

Soldiers conducting the cordon-and-search operation captured an individual believed to be the triggerman in the IED attack. The suspect was detained for further questioning, officials said.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Task Force Baghdad news releases.)