Coalition forces killed eight terrorists and detained seven suspected terrorists during operations Sunday targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq's leadership nodes and Baghdad-area operations.Coalition forces conducted two operations to bolster security in Baghdad and the surrounding belts. West of Tarmiyah, Coalition forces used information from an operation Aug. 31 to target associates of the al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of the northern belts. As the assault force approached the target building, several armed men engaged them with small arms fire. Coalition forces returned fire in self-defense, killing one armed terrorist. Three of the armed men maneuvered into tactical positions in a nearby palm grove, and Coalition forces called in close air support to defend against the enemy elements, killing three more armed terrorists. As they secured the target buildings, one man refused to comply with the interpreter's instructions and remained barricaded in the building. After repeated attempts to convince the suspected terrorist to come out, Coalition forces engaged the man, killing him. The ground forces detained one suspected terrorist and discovered a cache of bomb-making materials, which they safely destroyed with an air strike.
In an operation in the southern belts around Baghdad, Coalition forces targeted al-Qaeda in Iraq in the Arab Jabour area, including leaders replacing those who have been recently captured or killed. When the ground forces approached the target building, an armed man engaged the assault force. Coalition forces, responding in self-defense, killed the armed terrorist. Another armed man attempted to penetrate a Coalition forces security element, and a third attempted to engage the assault force from a nearby building. Coalition forces, responding in self-defense, engaged and killed both armed terrorists. The ground forces detained two suspects and discovered a cache of weapons and bomb-making materials, which they safely destroyed on site.
Based on intelligence from an operation Sep. 15, Coalition forces captured a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq leader south of Ramadi. Coalition forces also conducted a raid in Mosul targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives who facilitate a foreign terrorist network, and detained three suspected terrorists. "We're not waiting for the terrorists to strike – we're going after them," said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman. "We want to keep them on the run, unable to recover from the damage Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces are inflicting on their networks."