Coalition, Iraqi Forces Discover Multiple Weapons Caches

Iraqi Police discovered this improvised explosive device Nov. 7 in eastern Baghdad and disarmed it before it could be detonated in a terrorist attack. Army photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Coalition air forces conducted an air strike against an al Qaeda weapons cache in the village of Bu Hardan, near Qaim, early today.

Multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens indicated a terrorist cell was firing on coalition forces in the area. Coalition forces tracked the cell to a storage building in the village into which mortars and other small weapons were seen being moved. This weapons cache was directly linked to mortar attacks on coalition and Iraqi security forces in the Ubaydi, Husaybah, and Qaim region.

After ensuring no civilians were in the area, coalition forces using precision-guided munitions conducted an air strike on the storage building, destroying it and all contents of the weapons cache.

Also today, Multinational Division Central-South units, along with Iraqi security forces, seized a weapons cache in Diwaniyah province. The cache contained 27 120 mm mortar grenades, two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, 63 hand grenades, 15 tank rounds and 5 kilograms of high-explosive material.

On Nov. 8, U.S. soldiers assigned to Task Force Band of Brothers found and disposed of five separate caches of weapons. Four of the caches were located near Logistics Support Area Anaconda and a fifth near Kirkuk.

Among the items discovered were 14 rockets, 10 mortar rounds, seven large artillery shells, seven rocket-propelled grenades, six 125 mm tank rounds, three rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, various improvised-explosive-device components and more than 1,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition. An explosives team destroyed the unexploded ordnance in place. The soldiers also found terrorist propaganda with the caches.

Northwest of Baghdad, Task Force Baghdad soldiers found a large weapons cache during a patrol Nov. 5. Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, found the stockpile of various munitions buried near a house they searched during the patrol.

The soldiers uncovered more than 300 152 mm and 155 mm artillery shells, more than 100 120 mm rounds, dozens of rifles, hundreds of rounds of small-arms and large-caliber ammunition, and various fuses and weapons sights.

In other news from Iraq, Iraqi security forces and firefighters responded to reports of a car bomb that exploded near Mustansiriyah University, in eastern Baghdad, just before 9 a.m. Nov. 8. Iraqi firefighters extinguished the blaze while security forces secured the site. Iraqi police said the car bomb detonated next the university while students were in class.

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