A terrorist killed in Baqubah Friday has been positively identified as Thamir Aziz Abbas Ashuri. During an operation south of Baqubah, Coalition forces targeted Aziz for his role as an al-Qaeda in Iraq improvised explosive device cell leader. Reports indicate he led a group of an estimated 250 terrorists, whom he directed on emplacing IEDs and conducting attacks against Iraq and Coalition forces. He was also believed to act as a judge for an illegal terrorist court system in the area. As the ground force cleared the target building, they discovered a woman in a room and directed her to get down. Aziz fired shots at the ground force from a corner of that room, they returned fire and killed him. The woman was not harmed during the engagement and one other suspect was detained.
Coalition forces recently conducted numerous other successful operations in Baqubah, including an Oct. 16 raid where Coalition forces captured a wanted associate of an al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leader in the al-Hadid region, a known terrorist stronghold. In addition to the targeted individual, the ground force detained one suspected terrorist.
"Successful operations like these will continue to systematically dismantle al-Qaeda in Iraq," said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman.