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Coalition raids find success

On June 25, the same day Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki proposed a new plan designed to diminish violence in Iraq, Coalition forces detained more than a dozen terrorists and killed several others in separate raids throughout Iraq.

East of Ramadi, Coalition troops detained 11 terrorists.

Security forces were targeting two foreign terrorist facilitators who run al-Qaida in Iraq and foreign terrorist safe houses in the area. The ground forces secured multiple buildings at the target location, and detained 11 suspects without incident.

While securing the buildings, forces discovered two weapons caches in the area. The caches included several small arms weapons, suicide vests, body armor, multiple grenades, and an improvised explosive device manual. They were all destroyed on location along with one of the buildings where the weapons caches were located.

Several women and children were present at the raid sites. None were harmed and all were returned to their homes once the troops ensured the area was secure. The residents of the house that was destroyed were sent to a neighbor's house following the assault.

Coalition forces also killed one terrorist and detained five others during raids in southern Baghdad.

Intelligence from the recent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killing led forces to target these suspects. One of the suspects was directly associated with several senior-level al-Qaida members.

Security forces cleared multiple buildings and detained the five suspects without incident. One suspected terrorist approached the forces and ignored verbal warnings and warning shots, so they engaged and killed him.

Several women and children were present at the raid sites. None were harmed and all were returned to their homes once the troops ensured the area was secure.

On June 24, Coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained another during a raid north of Yusifiyah.

Forces targeted a terrorist known to be in direct contact with several facilitators of foreign terrorists in Iraq. He's also a known associate of a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader with extensive links to foreign terrorists throughout the Yusifiyah area, who was killed along with two other terrorists during a raid June 11 northeast of Amiriyah.

Upon arrival at the target location, the troops told everyone to exit the house. The men in the house were non-compliant and began to move throughout the house appearing to flee. Coalition forces engaged and killed one of the terrorists in the house and the other was killed outside the house as he was trying to hide behind nearby vehicles. The detainee came out of the house peacefully and was apprehended without incident.

The terrorists were located at a known foreign fighter safe house where recent intelligence indicated they were holding meetings to coordinate future terrorist activity. The same house had been previously targeted in early May to disrupt a terrorist cell building vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and improvised explosive devices.

Several women and children were present at the raid sites. One woman was injured during the assault. She received medical treatment on site by a Coalition medical expert and was taken to a near-by military facility for further treatment.

Coalition forces destroyed the building prior to departing the target area.

Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq