Record 42 Hostages Freed in Single Raid

All 42 hostages were held in one place by al-Qaeda in Iraq.

AP via Yahoo News: BAGHDAD - U.S. forces raided an al-Qaida hide-out northeast of Baghdad on Sunday and freed 42 Iraqis imprisoned inside, including some who had been tortured and suffered broken bones, a senior U.S. military official said Sunday.

The raid was part of a 3-month-old security crackdown that included the deployment of 3,000 more U.S. troops to Diyala, a violent province north of the capital that has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks, said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in
Iraq.

Caldwell said Iraqis told U.S. forces about the hide-out: "The people in Diyala are speaking up against al-Qaida."

He said the 42 freed Iraqis marked the largest number of captives ever found in a single al-Qaida prison. Some of those freed were held for as long as four months and some had injuries from torture and were taken to medical facilities for treatment.

Actually we reported that 5 were freed earlier in the week. Well that raid led to 12 more hostages, 7 more freed in Baquba and an Imam who was held hostage was freed as well.

Original Record 42 Hostages Freed in Single Raid post here at The Jawa Report.