Military

More Insurgents Killed, Arrested During Rash Of Attacks

The military today said three insurgents were killed after Iraqi forces defended against enemy forces who ambushed a vehicle convoy near Habaniyah. One of the attackers was wounded.

Four Iraqi soldiers injured in the ambush were treated and released at a local hospital.

And during separate fighting today near Baqubah, Iraqi soldiers killed three more insurgents after what is believed to have been a coordinated attack against an Iraqi army headquarters station.

Military officials said the fighting there began when insurgents using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades fired on a helicopter flying near the city. A car bomb also was detonated during the attack. Twelve Iraqi soldiers were injured in the fighting.

On March 20, two suspects were detained and seven Iraqi citizens were injured during an attack on a funeral for Mosul’s anti-corruption director, Iraqi Gen. Whaleed Kashmoula, who was assassinated that morning. Military officials reported the general’s relatives were returning home from the funeral when insurgents attacked, injuring two relatives. The injured were taken to a local hospital, where another attack by insurgents injured five more Iraqi citizens.

Four Iraqi citizens were killed and another was injured by a March 20 explosion in southern Mosul.

The violence comes as Iraqi and U.S. forces are pressing the search for suspected Iraqi militants throughout the country.

In a news release issued today, the military reported that on March 18 joint raids by U.S. and Iraqi forces in Iraq led the capture of more than 40 insurgents.

In Uroba, Kirkuk, joint raids by Iraqi army and Task Force Liberty soldiers led to the capture of 13 suspected terrorists believed to be associated with recent attacks on the Kirkuk police.

Another large military raid on suspected terrorist sites in Karbala on March 18 by some 200 Iraqi army personnel, assisted by U.S. Army and Marine forces, led to the capture of 30 individuals. “Those who seek violence must understand they will only find violent ends,” said Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart, commander of the 116th Brigade Combat Team, the coalition partner unit for Iraqi security forces in the province. “These terrorists who emplace IEDs and target the police officers will discover that justice will find them no matter where they hide.”

An Iraq officer was killed and another wounded by an improvised explosive device March 18. A second attack during the slain officer’s March 19 funeral procession killed three additional officers and wounded six.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)