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| Iraq |
| Operation Northern Lights begins |
| 2006-03-23 |
| BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces, approximately 1,400 personnel, kicked off Operation Northern Lights March 22 to disrupt anti-Iraqi forces and to find and destroy terrorist caches in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. The joint and combined operation began with 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, moving to blocking positions by ground before Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, air assaulted onto the objective to conduct a cordon and search. By late afternoon, approximately 400 Soldiers from the 3rd Bde., 6th Iraqi Army Div., discovered five weapons caches, containing a machinegun, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three AK-47 assault rifles, 2,200 PKC machine gun rounds, two boxes of gunpowder, a RPG rocket, an Iraqi police jacket, 18 106 mm tank rounds, 400 blasting caps, 40 artillery rounds, 17 pressure plate initiators, 20 Motorola radio initiators, and thousands of .50 caliber machine gun rounds. They also detained a suspected terrorist near one of the caches. At another cache site, terrorists attacked Iraqi soldiers with small-arms fire, wounding one Iraqi policeman and an Iraqi child caught in the crossfire. Iraqi soldiers returned fire, wounding and capturing a terrorist. All of the wounded were treated by Coalition Forces personnel. Another cache found consisted of seven RPG launchers, 12 RPG rounds, 14 82 mm mortar rounds, two 120 mm mortar rounds, ten 155 mm rounds, a mortar bipod and 2,000 small-arms rounds, some of which were armor-piercing rounds. A suspected terrorist was detained at the site. The combined forces continue to search for terrorists and bomb-making materials. So far through the operations, Iraqi and Coalition Forces have detained two persons of high-value interest and 16 suspected terrorists. The operation is based on intelligence, including tips from local Iraqis, that terrorists are operating in the area and are stockpiling roadside bomb and truck bomb- making materials to prepare for future attacks in Baghdad. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #2 Another air-assault training exercise. Air assault units are best for conventional light cavalry uses, and also as a rapid deployment force. As rapid deployment, they would put down any serious threat of civil war quickly, something like the Mehdi Army revolt in Najaf. In light cavalry mode, they would cut to ribbons any ground advance into Iraq by a foreign army. Not just flank attacks, but cutting their logistics and communications lines and attacking their rear elements. A small light cav unit can inflict severe hurt on a unit many times its size. It is the epee vs the broadsword, inflicting a dozen cuts and stabs before dodging the ineffectual and slow slash. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-23 22:08 |
| #1 Every cache means lives saved. Excellent intel, apparently. Excellent results. |
| Posted by: Snuper Thramp5041 2006-03-23 22:07 |