A joint mission in Diyala province between U.S. Special Forces and an Iraqi army unit resulted in two suspected insurgents killed and 102 others arrested, U.S. military officials said Thursday. One Iraqi soldier was “slightly wounded” by small-arms fire during the mission, officials said.The raids were conducted in two locations “chosen because intelligence indicated specific locations of individuals wanted for planning and facilitating insurgent activities,” according to a release from the U.S. special operations command in Iraq. “The assaults were combined cordon-and-search missions designed to capture key insurgents and to disrupt multiple insurgent cell operations — especially improvised explosive device production.” Of the 102 people arrested, 25 were on Iraqi “most wanted” lists, officials said. The special forces command did not delineate how many suspects were arrested at each target site.
During the first raid, officials said, an Iraqi assault team searched a house and was met with “heavy” small-arms fire. The Iraqi troops fired back, withdrew from the house, then re-entered. One of the Iraqi teams’ sergeants stayed in the house during the firefight, killing one insurgent and wounding two others before falling back with the rest of his unit, officials said. One of the injured suspects later died. The combined forces also found one rocket, two artillery rounds, five mortar rounds, three rocket-propelled grenades and assorted bomb-making materials.
U.S. officials say Diyala province, in central Iraq, is used by insurgents to “regroup, rearm and refit.” The Iraqi soldiers on the raid were from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division.