Marine Killed, Dozens of Insurgents Detained

The name of the deceased is being withheld until next of kin are notified.

In other news, cordon-and-search operations by Multinational and Iraqi forces have led to the arrest of insurgent fighters and the discovery of several hidden weapons caches overnight.

Over the past 24 hours, multinational forces conducting cordon and searches in Fallujah discovered two large weapons caches and detained 13 suspected anti- Iraqi personnel.

In Baghdad Jan. 5, Multinational Force and Iraqi National Guard personnel conducted multiple cordon-and-search operations leading to the apprehension of 14 anti-Iraqi personnel. Six suspects were captured during military operations in the southern city of An Numaniyah; eight more were detained in Sadah and Hit.

Near Ad Dwar the same day, multinational forces detained four individuals after finding six hand grenades, 300 small-arms rounds and a rocket-propelled grenade in a house where they were staying.

The detainees were taken to a Multinational Force detention facility for questioning. There one detainee admitted involvement with a Dec. 30 attack on an Iraqi National Guard observation point.

The military also reported finding several small weapons caches in Taji and Abu Ghraib, and in Samarra a stash of AK-47 assault rifles was confiscated.

In Baqubah, the military destroyed an improvised explosive devise reported by a local Iraqi citizen. In a similar incident a boy was rewarded after turning in a bag of military equipment to U.S. soldiers in southern Mosul.

Elsewhere, multinational and Iraqi forces made separate arrests of several insurgents believed responsible for two car-bomb attacks.

One of those attacks happened today in the Al Sinaa neighborhood of eastern Mosul. There, soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, detained one individual fleeing the scene after a roadside bomb was detonated ahead of their military convoy. Two other persons escaped on foot.

Meanwhile, several individuals were arrested in connection with a Jan. 5 bomb attack on an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint southwest of Mosul. The military said 13 individuals were detained after fleeing the scene of that attack. Iraqi Guard soldiers searching a village near the checkpoint detained another 23 suspects, and also found two large-caliber mortar rounds. All detainees remained in custody.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)