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94 suspected insurgents detained in Iraq

May-11-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes

FOB QAYYARAH-WEST, Iraq — Ninety-four suspected insurgents were detained and at least three killed Wednesday in a firefight that ensued after U.S. and Iraqi soldiers descended on the town of Aitha in the pre-dawn hours.

Of the 94 detainees, at least five are considered to be mid- to high-level targets sought by coalition forces as possible terrorists, said Maj. Kevin Murphy, operations officer of 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. [...]

Aitha, about an hour south of the northern city of Mosul, “is known as a town that harbors terrorists,” said Capt. Mike Yea, the fire support officer. “It has a decent number of people [a population about 2,000], so terrorists can hide and blend in. And it’s close to a major highway” which insurgents use to traffic weapons and people between Mosul and Baghdad, he said.

About 5 a.m., 2/8’s Battery B cordoned off the town to prevent anyone from entering and leaving, as the 102nd IA Battalion, accompanied by U.S. Special Forces, took the lead in rounding up suspects and searching homes, Murphy said.

By 2 p.m., the forces had searched and cleared all of the town’s estimated 55 homes, Yea said. No weapons caches were found in what was dubbed Operation Fruit Brute, a reference to a short-lived General Mills cereal. [...]


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