IA Soldiers seize caches in Sadr City

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Army Soldiers discovered a number of caches in Baghdad's northeastern district of Sadr City, May 24.
 
At approximately 7 a.m., IA Soldiers discovered a cache consisting of one 155 mm artillery round, 10 rocket-propelled grenades, an AK-47 assault rifle and a Simonov automatic rifle.
 
At approximately 7:30 a.m., IA Soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, discovered a weapons cache consisting of 16 AK-47s, a flak vest, two Kevlar helmets, and a roll of wire.
 
At approximately 7:30 a.m., IA Soldiers with 36th Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, found a weapons cache consisting of four AK-47s and a Simonov automatic rifle.

At approximately 8:30 a.m., IA Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, found one 122 mm tank round.
 
At approximately 9:30 a.m., IA Soldiers discovered an explosively-formed projectile device.
 
At approximately 12:45 p.m., IA Soldiers discovered four additional EFPs.
 
"Iraqi Security Forces remain focused on securing the streets of Baghdad and the Sadr City district," said Col. Allen Batschelet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad chief of staff. "All of these efforts are Iraqi led, planned, and executed showing the precise ability to independently carry out complex police missions."

Iraqi Army seizes caches in mosque, hospital

BAGHDAD - Three weapons caches were found in a mosque and a hospital during Operation Peace in Baghdad, May 23.
 
The two caches contained more than 360 AK-47 assault rifles, approximately 12 Dragonov sniper rifles, anti-tank mines, flak vests, more than 100 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, and multiple RPG launchers. The bodies of one woman and two men were also found at the site of one of the caches.
 
Iraqi Army Soldiers of the 22nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, discovered the first cache inside a mosque in the Shuala neighborhood during a clearing operation.
 
Inside the mosque, Iraqi Soldiers discovered more than 260 AK-47 rifles, approximately 10 RPGs, and approximately 10 Dragonov sniper rifles, as well as mortars and mortar tube.
 
The Soldiers discovered a second cache just outside the mosque, containing more than 100 AK-47s, anti-tank mines, flak vests, TNT, rocket launchers and the remains of the three people.
 
Iraqi Army Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 49th Iraqi Army Division, discovered the third weapons cache in a local hospital in Sadr City.
 
This cache contained more than 100 RPG rounds, rocket sleds, more than 60 home-made grenades, more than 50 fuses, TNT with cortex, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and several mortar tubes corresponding to multiple mortar sizes.
 
To date, Operation Peace in Sadr City has seized 38 caches.  

"These operations are a critical part of achieving mission success," said Lt. Col. John Casper, Multi-National Corps - Iraq chief of operations. "Each weapon found is a step toward security for the Iraqi people. These cache finds represent a tremendous distance traveled on the road to peace in Iraq." 

ISF, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div. Soldiers seize multiple munitions caches

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers seized multiple munitions caches in southern Baghdad May 23.
 
Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a munitions cache at approximately 3:30 a.m. May 23 in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad.
 
The Soldiers seized 107 mm rockets, plastic explosives and fuses inside an abandoned house in the Bayaa community.
 
Iraqi National Policemen from the 1st Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd NP Division, located a weapons cache May 23 at approximately 2 p.m. while conducting a patrol in the Risalah neighborhood of southern Baghdad.
 
The policemen seized rocket-propelled grenades with a launcher, an RPG booster, hand grenades, AK-47 rifles, and a PKC machinegun.
 
"The Iraqi Army and Iraqi National Police NPs are responsible for a significant amount of cache finds in the southern Baghdad area," said Maj. Dave Olson, spokesman, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad. "Their actions, with the support of the 1st BCT, 'Raider' Brigade, provide a safe and secure environment for the 1.2 million residents of southern Baghdad."
 
Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, seized a weapons cache at 2:15 p.m. in the Bayaa community. The cache consisted of  rocket propelled grenades, approximately 600 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, an AK-47 rifle, various IED-making materials, and detonation cord and firing wire.
 
"The 1st 'Raider' Brigade Soldiers work day in and day out with their Iraqi counterparts enforcing the Rule of Law on behalf of the citizens of the Rashid district," said Olson. 

U.S., Iraqi ophthalmologists administer eye care to locals

COB ADDER, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi ophthalmologists teamed up to provide eye care to approximately 100 Iraqi citizens as part of a U.S. and Iraqi medical engagement at Camp Mittica, May 19-20.
 
Dr. Stephen G. Waller, an ophthalmologist from Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio led a team of local Iraqi and Aegis Defense Services medical personnel in administering care to the Iraqi people. 
 
The team performed surgeries on the surface of the eye, such as cancers and other growths as well as eyelid deformities during the medical engagement. The team also provided eye check-ups and handed out scores of prescription glasses, sunglasses and bottles of artificial tears.
 
Waller is a retired Air Force colonel, who, among many other duties in his 31-year career, was a flight surgeon in Korea and the Philippines. He performed the first refractive laser surgery in the Air Force.
 
Waller was impressed with his Iraqi counterparts, ophthalmologists from Nasiriyah Hospital. 
 
"They are in every way my peers," Waller said.  Stavros Yiannakis, a reconstruction team liaison officer, said it was a good experience working with the Iraqi doctors because of their skill.

These doctors often have to work without the all resources they need in their job.
 
Khalid Abdull Shaheed, an anesthesiologist from Nasiriyah, said it was also a good experience to work with Waller because of his "professionalism," saying that it was additionally beneficial to be able to work with some tools they do not have at Nasiriyah Hospital.
 
"I hope they see us working here and see that we have good hearts - that Christians can be good people, too," Waller said.

Iraqi Security Forces seize weapons cache

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers discovered multiple weapons caches and killed five criminals May 23 in Baghdad. 
 
Iraqi Security Forces from 43rd Brigade, 11th IA Division, discovered a weapons cache in the Bayaa area of Rashid consisting of four explosively formed projectiles, four claymore mines, 10 rocket-propelled-grenade rockets, an AK-47 and 600 AK-47 rounds, 50 pounds of homemade explosives, a 152 mm Yugoslavian projectile, a
detonation cord, and firing wire and caps for improvised explosive devices.
 
Northwest of Baghdad, MND-B Soldiers acted on a tip from a local citizen and found a weapons cache, seizing four 81 mm mortar rounds and a 120 mm mortar round. 
 
Criminals attacked MND-B Soldiers with RPGs in the Shawra area of New Baghdad. The Soldiers called in an aerial weapons team, who fired a Hellfire missile, killing four criminals. Soldiers from the same unit later spotted armed criminals approaching a joint security station and killed one criminal.
 
MND-B Soldiers found an additional weapons cache May 24 in the Risala area of Rashid, seizing 180 mortar rounds, a 105 mm mortar round, an Iranian 107 mm rocket, shot gun shells, fuses and two grenades.
 
"Iraqi and MND-B Soldiers sacrifice daily to rid the streets of Baghdad of criminals and their tools of violence," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman, MND-B and the 4th Infantry Division. "Our goal is a better and brighter future for the Iraqi people. We're seeing progress and the fruits of that labor."

Iraqi Army seize weapons caches in separate operations

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Army soldiers discovered weapons caches in separate operations across Baghdad May 23.
 
Iraqi Army soldiers with the 22nd Brigade, 6th IA Division, seized a weapons cache and discovered a body in a mosque at approximately 10:30 a.m. in the Kadamiyah district of Bagdad.
 
The cache included rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, rocket-propelled grenades, an AK47, a machine gun, a PKC ammunition canister, a flak vest, a mortar tube and a sniper scope.
 
Earlier that morning, Soldiers with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, seized a weapons cache north of Baghdad containing approximately 30 60 mm Iranian mortars with a manufacturing date of 2007, and approximately a dozen 60 mm mortars of unknown origin, plus 82 mm illumination rounds, a 60 mm mortar tube, and various bomb-making materials and assorted ammunition.
 
"The combined efforts of Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers are helping to make the streets of Baghdad safer by taking these weapons and munitions out of the hands of those who would harm the Iraqi people," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a spokesman for Multi-National Division - Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division. "We remain vigilant in our efforts to safeguard the people of Iraq."

IA Soldiers remove dangerous weapons from streets of Sadr City

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Army Soldiers found multiple weapons caches and improvised explosive devices in Sadr City as Operation Peace continued May 22.
 
At approximately 5 p.m., Iraqi Army Soldiers from 36th Brigade, 9th IA Division, received information on a weapons cache from a local citizen and seized four IEDs, five propane tanks, a box of TNT, ball bearings rigged with wires, an RPK rifle, 20 liters of explosive material and rocket-propelled grenade propellant.
 
Minutes later, IA Soldiers from the 9th IA Div. discovered a weapons cache consisting of seven explosively formed projectiles, five 60 mm mortar rounds, more than a dozen RPGs, hand grenades, a mortar sight, a BKC machine gun and 1,200 BKC rounds, a Kalashnikov rifle and five Kalashnikov magazines, igniters, indicators, command wire, charges, detonators, eight radios and four battery chargers.
 
At approximately 12:05 a.m. May 23, IA Soldiers from 42nd Brigade, 9th IA Div., found an 82 mm mortar round, three SKS rifles and an AK-47 assault rifle. IA Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 1st IA Div., found four RPG rockets at approximately 12:40 a.m.
 
IA Soldiers also found two IEDs while conducting dismounted patrols throughout the city.
 
"Iraqi Army Soldiers continue to scour the street to rid the area of these dangerous weapons," said Col. Allen Batschelet, chief of staff, Multi-National Division - Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division. "They are taking these weapons out of the hands of the militants and are providing safer, more secure neighborhoods for the residents of Baghdad."