It’s that time again for the weekly IED Roll-up, something that I may be skipping for a week due to our upcoming move. As of Monday, I will also be posting only sporadically, but rest assured I can still receive email. So, it makes me happy that my last scheduled post is filled with positive news coming out of Iraq. I look forward to meeting many of you DC and posting my new adventures on another coast. For those of you new to the site, I do these roll-ups to show you part of how we’re countering the IED threat…getting to them at their source. You’ll notice that a lot of these caches were located due to Iraqi tips. If “80%” of them hated us and wanted us out of the country, why would they help us? Probably because 80% is an inflated number. In the meantime, let’s get started:

December 1 – Iraqi firefighters from the Rusafa Fire Station in east Baghdad turned over more than 200 rounds of unexploded ordnance to elements of Task Force Baghdad for destruction. The firefighters gave 65 artillery rounds and 143 mortar rounds to elements of 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery as part of a continuing effort to work with Coalition forces in ridding the area of unexploded ordnance and potential bomb-making materials. A U.S. explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the rounds.

December 2 – Soldiers from the 3rd Iraqi Army Division and Coalition forces detained four suspected insurgents and confiscated hundreds of weapons during a joint raid. Searches of residences in the area yielded more than 300 assault rifles and a large quantity of ammunition.

December 3 – An Iraqi police explosive ordnance disposal team discovered a weapons cache in an area neighborhood. The contents of the cache consisted of 143 122 mm mortar rounds and seven 155 mm artillery rounds. The materials were turned over to authorities to be destroyed at a later date.

December 3 – The Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police joined forces in east Baghdad to disable a bomb, preventing a terrorist attack. An Iraqi Army patrol noticed a suspicious item in Sadr City and called the Iraqi Police to investigate. Police officers secured the area surrounding the suspected improvised explosive device. Investigators determined the item – a bag with protruding wires – was a land mine connected to a triggering device. An Iraqi Police explosive ordnance disposal team disarmed and destroyed the device.

December 4 – A joint operation between Iraqi and Coalition forces caught four suspected members of car bomb and suicide vest production cells. Information gathered from suspects detained in a November raid led troops to the whereabouts of the enemy forces, where they conducted two simultaneous cordon and search operations in the Yusufiyah area.

December 5 – Iraqi Army and Coalition forces uncovered two weapons caches while conducting a combined cordon and search operation about one kilometer northwest of Rawah. As the troops searched the area of the first cache site, they saw a man get into a boat and flee the area. The soldiers, of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, were not able to detain the man. The first cache consisted of an AK-47 assault rifle with a full magazine, 16 timers in a bag, a cell phone with extra batteries, 21 Motorola hand-held radios, three small video cameras loaded with tapes and charged batteries, extra batteries and books. When they searched the river area where the man fled, soldiers found a bag of propellant. Less than two hours later, the troops found a second cache during a joint operation in the same area. It included a propane tank filled with explosives, three 155 mm rounds and a sniper rifle. Coalition forces detained seven suspects and two of them volunteered information about the location of additional enemy suspects. Iraqi soldiers with the 2nd Brigade detained two men the same evening while conducting an intelligence-driven cordon and search in northwest Fallujah. They also discovered two bags of explosive powder and a hand grenade. An explosive ordnance disposal team was called in to dispose of the explosives.

December 5 – A joint patrol between Iraqi Police and Coalition troops recovered numerous weapons and munitions hidden in and around a home. Two sticks of dynamite and a ski mask were discovered in one room of the house, while anti-Coalition propaganda was found in another. Outside, a 120 mm round encased in plaster, two canisters filled with dynamite, a stick of dynamite and an AK-47 assault rifle bandoleer were uncovered from a pile of rubble. A second ski mask and materials for making improvised explosive devices were found in a courtyard. A shed in the courtyard contained another AK-47 assault rifle bandoleer.

December 6 – Soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Battalion, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force and Coalition forces discovered four caches north of Sa’dah. The first cache consisted of a partially buried complete mortar system, one rocket-propelled grenade and five mortar rounds. The second cache consisted of five RPGs, and one 60 mm rocket with propellant. The third cache contained four AK-47s, three full magazines, five RPGs, 15 RPG igniters, two 120 mm mortar rounds, one 82 mm mortar round, one case of 7.62 mm rounds, five hand grenades and one packet of igniters. The fourth cache consisted of 150 rounds for a light machine gun, four long range antennas with tops, two small arms rifle sights of an unknown type and size, one 155 mm artillery round, five RPG igniters, three rocket charges for RPGs, nine fuses, 19 blasting caps, one bag of dynamite, two one-gallon jugs of dynamite, 10 meters of detonation cord, nine base plate receivers, one compass with various navigation tools, four 60 mm rounds, seven cell phones, 13 cell phone batteries, seven cell phone chargers, several cell phone relay chips, several standard batteries, one video camera, one map and several assorted wires. An explosive ordnance team destroyed all four caches on location.

December 6 - A patrol of Special Police from the 1st Mechanized Police Brigade was ambushed by enemy forces while responding to the scene of a weapons stockpile discovered by Iraqi Police officers. The police officers found the weapons in the Hateen District of western Baghdad and called for help in securing the cache. The mechanized patrol was nearing the scene when it was attacked. Two Special Police members were wounded and taken to a nearby hospital, where they were treated and released. The attackers remain at large. The cache included 14 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, six mortar rounds, materials used in making bombs and 10 Iraqi Army and Police uniforms. Police moved the munitions and uniforms to a secure location.

December 8 – Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division detained two men after discovering a large cache of weapons and munitions in the village of Haroniyah, northeast of Muqdadiyah. The cache consisted of nine 60 mm mortars configured to be used as improvised explosive devices, four rocketpropelled grenade launchers, an anti-tank weapon known as an SPG-9 with one round and a television remote control. The suspects were held for further investigation. Elsewhere the same day, soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division unearthed two caches buried near Balad in the Salah Ad Din Province. The find included 16 60 mm rounds, 16 artillery fuses and a technical manual for computers. Explosive ordnance disposal experts handled the scene.

And there ends yet another exhaustive week of success in countering the IED threat. While we continue to lose soldiers to more and more sophisticated IEDs, we continue to train our soldiers on IED defeat. They in turn train the Iraqis. You can read more of these IED Roll-Ups by clicking HERE.