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US troops make weapons seizure
Police and US troops have seized weapons during raids in Baghdad and in northern Iraq. US and Iraqi officials said the raids took place after a small but symbolic rocket attack on a US compound in the Iraqi capital. A cache found yesterday near Saddam Husseinâs hometown Tikrit included 23 Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, 1,000lb of plastic explosives, grenades, grenade launchers, rockets, a mortar and mortar rounds. It was among the largest caches found there since American troops arrived in April, according to Major Mike Rauhut of the 4th Infantry Division. US officials said troops also detained "a former high-ranking regime loyalist" but gave no further details.Earlier near the northern city of Kirkuk, soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division found eight SA-7 surface to air missiles, seven mortar tubes, and "a substantial number of electrical switches" used to make homemade bombs according to division spokeswoman Major Josslyn Aberle. In Baghdad, Iraqi police found a much smaller cache, recovering about a dozen small rockets, grenades and mortar rounds. The warheads had been removed from the rockets, suggesting they were to have been used in fabricating small roadside bombs that have caused casualties among US troops and Iraqi civilians. Posted by: Bulldog 2003-09-28 |
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