For a fourth time in two weeks, a large cache of improvised explosive device-making material and mortar rounds was turned over to Coalition Forces by the “Neighborhood Watch” in Taji, Iraq July 9.
The cache contained more than 20 mortar rounds, multiple makeshift mortar tubes and mortar fuses. Also in the cache were IED timing devices and IED detonation material. This is the fourth time since the establishment of a Coalition outpost in Falahat, a village near Taji, north of the Iraqi capital, that weapons caches have been turned in or identified to Soldiers from Troop D, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, who man the outpost. Thus far, six caches have been removed from the village, two discovered by Coalition and Iraqi Army troops patrolling the area.
The “Neighborhood Watch” is made up of a group of 500 local volunteers, tribe members in the Taji area who want reconciliation with the Coalition and the Iraqi government. These volunteers are currently being vetted for possible future selection for training as Iraqi Police or some other organization within the Iraqi Security Forces. “This grassroots movement of reconciliation by the volunteers is taking off all around us. The tribes that had once actively or passively supported Al Qaeda in Iraq now want them out,” said Lt. Col. Peter Andrysiak, deputy commander of the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. “These volunteers are hopeful that the government of Iraq will see their value and bring them on as part of the legitimate Iraqi Police.” |