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WASHINGTON, April 4, 2005 – A Task Force Freedom soldier was killed and another wounded by terrorist small-arms fire April 2 in Tal Afar, Iraq, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today.
Officials provided no further details about the incident. Initial reports of a soldier being killed April 3 by an improvised explosive device near Bayji, Iraq, had identified the soldier as being assigned to Task Force Liberty. Officials later issued a correction, reporting that the soldier was assigned to the 1st Corps Support Command. In Afghanistan, local police collected munitions from a district southwest of Kabul and today turned them in to coalition forces near Ghazni. The items included 19 107 mm rockets, 31 82 mm mortar rounds, a 40 mm round, eight rocket-propelled grenades, three recoilless-rifle rounds, 23 fuses, two cases of ammunition, and 100 assorted small-arms rounds. "The voluntary turn-in of caches is a promising sign that the Afghan people are tired of war and violence and that they are investing in a more peaceful and better tomorrow," said Army Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76. A former Afghan militia division commander informed coalition forces April 3 about a large weapons cache in a village near Bagram. Coalition forces from Bagram found more than 24 tons of munitions in three industrial-sized shipping containers, along with various wells and holes nearby containing a variety of munitions. A mine-clearing team from Bagram helped in recovering the third container today. An explosion occurred April 3 near an Afghan National Army recruitment center in Jalalabad, in Nangarhar province. There were no reported casualties or damage to the recruitment center, but the explosion did damage one of the facility's exterior security walls. Personnel from the Office of Military Cooperation Afghanistan's recruiting assistance team were conducting an inspection of the center at the time of the explosion. The Jalalabad Provincial Reconstruction Team sent explosive ordnance personnel with a quick-reaction team to assess the site of the explosion. It is unknown if an explosive was placed or fired at the building, officials said. An investigation is under way. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news releases.)
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