Iraqi Forces Repel Insurgent Attack at Hospital in Mosul

Doctors, staff, and patients fled the hospital because of the attack, and no injuries were reported.

Military officials in Baghdad also provided details of various Jan. 19 operations that resulted in the death or capture of insurgents and the recovery of illegal weapons:

Task Force Danger soldiers shot and killed one of two insurgents who intended to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at their patrol while conducting route clearance missions near Muqdadiyah. The second insurgent fled.

One insurgent was killed and two others were wounded in an attempted ambush of 1st Infantry Division soldiers near Balad. The patrol was investigating a report that a school that is also a designated polling site for the Jan. 30 Iraqi national assembly election was destroyed. Upon arrival, the patrol was attacked and returned fire. The wounded insurgents were medically evacuated, and the Multinational Force suffered no injuries or damage to equipment.

The Baqubah Joint Coordination Center quick-reaction force and Iraqi police killed two insurgents and wounded one when about 30 insurgents attacked the Mufrek police station. Task Force 1-6 Field Artillery from the 1st Infantry Division linked up with them and helped to clear the area and establish a cordon.

Two insurgents were killed when an improvised explosive device detonated prematurely near Balad Ruz. Iraqi police detained seven suspects believed to be involved. Task Force Danger soldiers discovered IED materials -- six blasting caps, nine one-pound blocks of TNT, seven RPG warheads, three RPG propellants, one roll of electrical wire and two 6-volt batteries -- at the site. Explosive ordnance personnel disposed of the materials.

Iraqi police searched a mosque in Katoon. They detained 64 people and confiscated an AK-47 assault rifle. Task Force Baghdad Soldiers destroyed two buildings believed to have been used by insurgents to intimidate, torture and kill members of the local populace in the north Babil region, south of the Iraqi capital. "These buildings were known 'slaughterhouses,'" said Lt. Col. James Hutton, spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division and Task Force Baghdad. Hutton said the site of the buildings, south of the town of Mahmuhdiyah, was formerly a military communications facility under Saddam Hussein's regime. "This operation demonstrates to the local populace that we are committed to freeing them from the grasp of fear," Hutton said. "The insurgent feeds off of the fear of others. But the insurgent knows his options are running out." Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), detained nine people in northern Iraq. Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, were patrolling in northern Mosul when insurgents in a moving vehicle attacked their convoy. Following the attack, the soldiers confiscated four rifles from the vehicle. No injuries were reported. Soldiers of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Calvary Regiment, detained nine suspected insurgents while conducting cordon-and-search operations in Tal Afar. The 2-14th soldiers also confiscated weapons from the detainees. Three suspected insurgents were detained in a joint raid near Kirkuk. The raid was conducted to capture a specific insurgent suspect. The target and two others were detained for questioning by Iraqi forces.

Task Force Danger soldiers detained one suspect and confiscated several weapons during a weapons compliance check in Hiaf Village, near Kirkuk. The patrol confiscated seven AK-47 assault rifles, six bolt-action rifles, two shotguns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. The captured suspect was taken to a Multinational Force detention facility. North of Mashru in Babil province soldiers from 1st Battle Group from the 1st Brigade Combat Team of Multinational Division CentralSouth, along with U.S. military police and Iraqi forces, conducted a joint cordon-and-search operation to find illegal weapons, caches and ammunition. They confiscated 54 AK-47 assault rifles and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Based on a tip given by a local citizen, soldiers of the Kurdish security forces discovered a cache of weapons and munitions in Zumar on Jan. 18. The cache included rifles, RPGs, several mortar rounds and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)