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Soldiers surprised, but unhurt by IED

Jan- 5-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, The News-Miner

MOSUL, Iraq--When an improvised explosive device exploded near a group of four U.S. Army Stryker vehicles Wednesday, it wasn't the pulsing boom as much as the timing that surprised the soldiers.

The group included Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kelly and others with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry regiment stationed in this northern city with a large portion of Alaska's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Kelly and his platoon had been alerted to a possible IED on this stretch of busy road in western Mosul. After circling the area, spotting the suspicious item on the road's median and surveying it from a distance, Kelly and the soldiers decided it was likely an IED. And yet, they had driven past it earlier and it had not exploded.

"I was going to get out and take a look but something this time told me not to," Kelly said. "I knew it was an IED."

So the soldiers called the Explosive Ordinance Detachment, the unit charged with investigating and detonating or disposing of IEDs and other explosives.

Thirty minutes later while waiting for the unit to arrive, the device exploded with a boom and quick shake of the earth. There were no injuries or damage to Strykers.

IEDs, along with small-arms fire, are the most common types of attack soldiers face in Mosul. The explosive devices are placed along the roadside or in cars by insurgent forces. IEDs have killed about a third of the more than 2,100 U.S. troops who have died in Iraq, according to military officials. [...]


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