Large Number of Terrorist Suspects Captured in Baghdad Raid

A new press release from Task Force Baghdad (via DVIDS) confirms a story from Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) that I reported here regarding the large number of terrorist suspects captured (67) but does not mention the four al Qaeda leaders in the Gulf Daily News story. Gulf Daily News seemed to have very specific information, including the names of the terrorist organizations the al Qaeda members headed.

From the press release:

Spc. Emily J. Wilsoncroft
Task Force Baghdad PAO

FOB FALCON, Iraq — Iraqi Army Soldiers teamed up with elements of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division for Operation Vanguard Tempest, an early-morning raid on the Baghdad neighborhood of al-Dora April 11.

“These guys are trying to kill Americans, Iraqi Soldiers and Iraqi Police,” added Pfc. Richard Kasserman, a C Co., 3/7 tank loader from Aiken, S.C. “It’s best to get ‘em off the streets as soon as possible.”

“As soon as possible” was 3 a.m. Monday, when the Soldiers began to move among the dimly-lit and nearly silent rows of houses, taking care to stop only at those homes identified in the intelligence they had been given.

Even though not every team was able to locate its assigned targets, a large majority of the suspected terrorists accompanied the Soldiers back to Falcon by the time the operation was over at 8:30 a.m.

90 suspects were targeted; 67 apprehended, a large percentage for this type of operation. The quality of the intelligence implies a high degree of cooperation from Iraqi civilians.