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By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq – U.S. forces destroyed a suspected terrorist safe house with a 500-pound bomb today after shooting dead two insurgents during a brief gun battle.
This is the third day of violent clashes between insurgents and soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), since the U.S. troops set up a camp Sunday outside this remote city in west-central Iraq near the Syrian border.
Insurgents have attacked soldiers here every day, planting roadside bombs and steering explosives-packed cars into U.S. patrols. Today was no exception.
At 9 a.m. this morning, an insurgent detonated his car bomb near a Stryker combat vehicle with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. The explosion punctured two of the Stryker’s eight tires, but no soldiers were hurt.
Thirty minutes later a burnt-out car, packed with explosives, blew up near another Stryker in the same unit but caused no damage.
This city of some 20,000 was quiet for about 90 minutes, until B Company commander Capt. Mark Ivezaj’s Stryker surprised a handful of insurgents sitting in an idling van.
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