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Clown's bag of nastiness hauled from Mosul home

Jun- 4-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Bill Wilson of The Rochester Sentinel is embedded with the Valparaiso-based 113th Combat Engineering Battalion of the Indiana National Guard in Mosul, Iraq. They conduct operations with the 1-25 SBCT.

Link to Bill Wilson's Blog

Link to Full Article
BY W.S. WILSON, Rochester Sentinel

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ – Indiana’s 113th Combat Engineers started off Wednesday night with a bang, then things got better.
They safey exploded two land mines and hauled home a terror cache that included a clown’s bag of nastiness: a suicide bomber vest, perhaps 15 pounds of plastic explosives, mortar shells rigged as hand grenades, detonators, rocket propelled grenades and their launch tubes, launchers, a computer and propaganda by the drawer full.
Also in the win column: at least three suspected terrorists in custody.

Along the way, three terrorists ended up dead; two seriously wounded by gunfire. Nobody from the 113th got hurt.
The two land mines were called into the 113th command center as possible improvised explosive devices. Under the direction of Lt. Elijah Gray, the 113th headed for the west side of Mosul. Two Stryker combat vehicles – 19 tons of high-tech, high-speed imaging, firepower and attitude – had located the mines and secured the site in a relatively unpopulated part of the city, a safe distance from any homes.
The mines were at the side of the road. The 113th provided cover with foot soldiers and the big .50-caliber machine guns atop Humvees while 1st Sgt. Bob Chandler, an explosives expert from Toole, Utah, dispatched a radio-controlled robot. Chandler had a little trouble with visibility but nursed the robot into position from about 100 yards away. He directed the robot to place a charge of plastic explosive on ttop of one mine and nudged the other mine over so that they were touching and the explosive was on top of both. Detonation cord ran from the explosives back to the truck. [...]

The story continues. It was also picked up in a condensed version by the Associated Press.


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