Increased Operations against al-Qaeda Continue

US and Iraqi Army Units are working side-by-side in ongoing operations

Coalition forces continue to kill and detain suspected terrorists and discover weapons caches during ongoing missions within Operation Phantom Thunder, a large-scale operation targeting al Qaeda strongholds in and around Baghdad.

Two coordinated operations in Mosul today targeted a Kurdish extremist known for helping al Qaeda in Iraq facilitate foreign fighters and conduct financial and media operations, military officials reported.

While troops maneuvered through a targeted building, an armed man engaged them with small-arms fire, endangering the force and the innocent family members. Coalition forces defended themselves, the women and the children by killing the armed terrorist.

Troops identified the terrorist as a member of the al Qaeda in Iraq network who recruited and transported foreign fighters into Iraq to participate in suicide bombings and other terrorist activities, officials said. Coalition forces detained seven other suspected terrorists during the raids for their alleged involvement in the network.

In Baghdad, coalition forces conducted an operation to capture an al Qaeda in Iraq senior leader in the area. As forces entered the building, a man continuously made hostile attempts to evade the ground forces and ignored the translator's instructions to comply with the forces orders. Reacting appropriately to the perceived hostile threat, officials said, coalition forces shot and killed him.

Inside the building, coalition forces detained 10 suspected terrorists, including two who have alleged close ties to al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders. Coalition forces also destroyed a vehicle used in transporting weapons and personnel for terrorist activity, officials reported.

West of Tarmiyah, coalition forces targeted an individual suspected of helping foreign fighters enter Iraq. The ground force captured the individual and three more suspected terrorists allegedly tied to the al Qaeda in Iraq foreign fighter network.

Coalition forces raided a building northeast of Habbaniyah in search of an al Qaeda senior leader there. The ground force detained eight suspected terrorists for their alleged involvement with the senior leader.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq members continue to threaten the safety of Iraqis with indiscriminant violence, even deliberately endangering their own family members," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman. "Al Qaeda's operatives, many of them foreigners to Iraq, do not represent the will or the desires of the Iraq people."

Much of the recent activity is supported by Baathist insurgents and Sunni nationalists that now fight al-Qaeda together with US forces.