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CJTF-7 Briefing
Select tidbits from the 01-02-2004 briefing.Approximately 600 members of the new Iraqi army officer candidates departed for Jordan, where they will undergo 11 weeks of officer training. They departed this week. At the end of this month, more than 450 new Iraqi police officers will graduate from the Jordanian International Police Training Center, outside of Amman, as well. And then finally, next week on January 6th, the 2nd Battalion of the new Iraqi army will gradate. It will be open to the press. If you are interested, please let us know. The graduation ceremony will be presided over by the Iraqi Governing Council president, Adnan Pachachi. In the north, a former senior Baath party member turned in 31 AK-47s to the Talifar (sp) police station. This individual has turned in weapons before to include 79 AK-47s. Additionally, other former high-ranking members of the Baath party plan to publicly denounce violence and turn in weapons during a ceremony this Monday. A media advisory for the event will be forthcoming. In Baghdad, coalition forces conducted five offensive operations as part of Operation Iron Grip, and carried out 508 patrols and captured 42 personnel. Elsewhere in Baghdad, individuals inside a white Opel fired small arms at ICDC personnel at the Al-Amil (ph) gas station. The Civil Defense Corps soldiers returned fire, and Iraqi customers waiting for fuel also fired at the Opel. The assailants broke contact, and a search of the area met with negative results. Note: Iraqi civilians also fired on the terrorists! Regarding the operation at the Al-Tabul (sp) Mosque, on 1 January, coalition forces, led off by Iraqi Civil Defense Corps personnel and the Iraqi police, conducted a cordon-and-search of the Al-Tabul (sp) Mosque. The following equipment was seized from the mosque: five sticks of high-explosive PE-4; three packages of TNT; one case of blasting caps; three bags of gunpowder; eight improvised grenades; a small roll of detonation cord; one case of 155-millimeter artillery primers; improved -- improvised explosive device materials, to include nine-volt batteries and unidentified propellants; 11 AK- 47s; two SKS rifles; two RPG launchers; a 60-millimeter mortar tube; various mortar sights; a 120-millimeter mortar bipod and base plate; an SA-7 missile trainer; 20 AK-47 magazines; 3,500 7.62 rounds; and additional items of intelligence value. During this operation, 32 personnel were detained, and based on their dialect, several of the detainees were suspected to be foreign nationals. Confirmation of the suspectsâ nationalities and any possible connections to foreign terrorist organizations has not yet been established. |
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