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Soldiers unearth 15 caches near Kirkuk
Iraqi and U.S. Soldiers combined efforts Monday, capturing four known insurgents and unearthing a network of 15 weapons caches during a combined operation west of Kirkuk.

The operation began with an Iraqi-led cordon and search of a village known to be a safe haven for insurgent and terrorist cells responsible for attacks on oil pipelines and coalition convoys in the area.

With troops from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division providing security outside the village and U.S. aircraft overhead, soldiers of the 2nd Iraqi Army Brigade moved in. Their door-to-door search quickly led to the capture of the four insurgents.

While the search was taking place on the ground, one of the pilots circling overhead noticed a large shiny object on the ground outside the town.

Once the sweep of the village was complete, 101st Airborne Soldiers took the lead in investigating the object which turned out to be a sheet of tin covering a weapons cache. Further investigations of the area revealed a network of 15 caches containing a variety of weapons systems and explosives, as well as a variety of materials used to make improvised explosive devices.

Materials uncovered included:

 1 complete surface to air missile system
 450 mortar rounds
 12 rockets
 11 complete mortar systems
 31 rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers
 70 rocket propelled grenades
 30 grenades
 14 machine guns
 16 sniper rifles
 More than 190 fuses
 Tens of thousands of rounds of small arms ammunition
 Multiple weapons parts, including scopes
 75 pounds of propellant
 Timers and parts used in making improvised explosive devices (IEDÂ’s)
 1 gas mask

Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-02-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=143384