CAMP STRIKER, Iraq (July 7, 2008) – Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 25th Brigade, 17th Iraqi Army Division and 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, acted on the tip and found a total of eight caches in the area 35 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.
“Iraqi and Coalition forces continue to make significant strides in taking munitions off the streets and out of the hands of criminals,” said Col. Dominic Caraccilo, 3rd BCT commander. “When citizens come forward with this kind of information, it shows their commitment to making the Mahmudiyah Qada a safer place.”
The caches included one 23 mm anti-aircraft gun, one makeshift sniper rifle, one Russsian Draganov sniper rifle, four rocket-propelled grenade launchers, one homemade rocket launcher, two anti-tank mines (one rigged as an anti-personnel improvised explosive device), seven 82 mm mortars, four 120 mm mortars, three 60 mm mortars, five 57 mm anti-aircraft rounds, 23 RPGs, more than 1,000 rounds of assorted ammunition, fuses, multiple AK-47 components and miscellaneous primers, detonators and IED-making materials.
The items were taken to the Mahmudiyah IA Compound for later destruction.