Iraqi Police, U.S. Soldiers Help Children Hurt in IED Attack

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2005 - Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers responded to help five Iraqi children injured in a Nov. 20 roadside bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad, military officials reported.

Officials said the bomb most likely was targeting an Iraqi police patrol, but missed the target and detonated near a vehicle filled with children.

Police and U.S. soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, secured the site and took the wounded children to a local hospital for treatment.

In other news, Iraqi police and soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team killed one suspect and injured two more Nov. 19 while responding to a roadside bomb attack in Tikrit, officials reported.

Soldiers located the triggermen as they attempted to escape the area and chased them into a hastily prepared roadblock. Once the attackers saw the roadblock, they tried to turn around and began ramming other civilian vehicles on the road in an attempt to escape the containment area, officials said.

Soldiers at the roadblock used several warning measures, attempting to stop the vehicles. When the drivers did not stop, the soldiers opened fire and stopped both vehicles, killing one occupant and injuring two others.

All three men tested positive for explosive residue. A search of the vehicles revealed a large sum of money.
Iraqi police took the two wounded terrorists to the Bayji hospital for treatment.

About 150 Iraqi army soldiers and 300 Marines and soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division, began Operation Bruins in northern Ramadi on Nov. 19, officials reported.

Operation Bruins is part of a series of disruption operations in Ramadi, military officials said, and is designed to set the conditions for successful elections in December.

Forces are conducting cordon-and-search operations, blocking off known terrorist escape routes and searching for weapons caches. The operation comes on the heels of Operation Panthers, which disrupted operations in the Sophia district of eastern Ramadi. During Panthers, the team discovered weapons caches and detained suspected terrorists.

Bruins also follows the Nov. 17 engagement in which the 2nd Brigade Combat Team successfully repelled a terrorist attack in downtown Ramadi, killing 32 terrorists.

The caches found during Panthers, along with the recent capture of three high-value terrorist targets, have been part of continuous disruption operations in the Ramadi area, officials said.

Attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces in the Ramadi area have decreased 60 percent in the last few weeks, officials reported, as a result of these ongoing operations.

Iraqi and Task Force Baghdad soldiers saved an Iraqi woman who had been shot by terrorists Nov. 19 in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad. After being hit in a drive-by shooting, the woman was treated by combat medics on the scene from 1st Squadron, 11th Cavalry Regiment, a unit from Fort Irwin, Calif., and immediately was evacuated to a local hospital with the help of soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Division.

The woman was shot in the chest with an AK-47 assault rifle fired from a white sedan as it approached a military checkpoint. She was reported to be in stable condition at the hospital.

Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, operating in southwestern Baghdad, detained three suspected terrorists in two separate incidents Nov. 19.

After striking a roadside bomb, the soldiers of C Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, searched the area and detained a man positively identified to have been tampering with explosive material. He also had multiple timers, detonators and initiators in his possession, officials said.

Later in the day, A Company, 2-101st Brigade Troops Battalion, in support of 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, discovered a roadside bomb consisting of a propane tank with a timer attached to it. The patrol secured and searched the area, detaining two individuals who were positively identified to be tampering with explosives.

Coalition aircraft flew 39 close-air-support and armed-reconnaissance sorties Nov. 20 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

U.S. Air Force F-16s struck roadside bomb locations near Ramadi, while other U.S. Air Force F-16s provided close air support to coalition troops in contact with enemy fighters near Hawijah and Husaybah.

In addition, 12 U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Iraq. Also, Royal Air Force fighter aircraft performed in a nontraditional ISR role with their electro-optical and infrared sensors.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq, Task Force Baghdad and U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward news releases.)

Related Sites:

Multinational Force Iraq [http://www.mnf-iraq.com/]

U.S. Central Command Air Forces [http://www.centaf.af.mil/]

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