One bomb emplacer was killed and another detained following an improvised explosive device detonation near a U.S. convoy north of Hawijah yesterday – September 17 2009.

A patrol consisting of Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was struck by an IED while en route to the Mahus Police station to conduct a planned combined patrol. While U.S. forces were responding to the IED, two bomb emplacers attempted to flee the scene. The patrol repeatedly warned the two attackers to stop, fired warning shots and then engaged them. One was killed and the other is in the custody of the Iraqi Army.

On further investigation, additional bomb-making and other materiel that could be used in attacking vehicles was discovered near the spot where they were hiding.

MNF-I

A young man beginning a business to support his new family is not necessarily headline news. However, for Kusai, 24, his dream would be realized in the heart of what was once considered an extremists’ stronghold only six months prior – Hawijah, Iraq.

Hawijah, located approximately 60 miles south of Kirkuk City in the Kirkuk province, historically held center stage to the region’s worst violence against civilians, Iraq security forces, and coalition forces by extremists. The residents here faced anywhere from 10 to 15 attacks per day, according to military records. Soldiers report that day-time patrols were targeted with small arms fire throughout the city and routinely upon exiting the confines of Forward Operating Base McHenry where Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division are located.

Since the establishment of Sahwah – meaning “reconciliation” or “awakening” to locals, overall violence in this predominantly Sunni-Arab populated region of northeastern Iraq, has experienced nearly an 80 percent drop in violent activity, according to Lt. Col. Christopher Vanek, commander, 1-87 Regiment.

While isolated incidents do occur, “the crucial element to the ongoing successes here are the concerned citizens of Hawijah who are effectively identifying those responsible … expeditiously,” Vanek said. The citizens that Vanek refers to are the Sons of Iraq that number over 7,000 in Hawijah alone.

“Sahwah has made it possible for me to open my shop and provide for my family. There is business. People feel safer. You see the security,” Kusai, said, pointing to the five SoIs that have stopped by to investigate and converse with the Soldiers of Bravo Company, 1-87 Regiment.

“These men are very good. They are always stopping by to see if everything is okay,” he said.

Kusai is not the only merchant who has benefited from the outcome of Sahwah. An ice cream parlor across the street that resembles a scaled-down version of a fountain shop in the U.S., is stocked with soft drinks, cookies, cakes, and an ice cream machine.

Masmoud Wasif, 17, welcomes the Soldiers as they enter to purchase some canned drinks, handing them out to the children that have gathered there. The shop is owned by Wasif’s parents who have operated the store for around three years. “Business is much better since Sahwah,” he said. “People are not afraid to come to the market place and shop.”

He credits the Sons of Iraq for the increased security.

“I am very happy they are here,” he said and inquires if they could stay until midnight so that he can earn more money.

In addition to providing over watch on the city’s security, SoI’s are seen clearing debris and sweeping the streets during this visit. A day later on a return trip from another mission, Vanek remarks that he has never seen the streets of Hawijah so clean.

“This is incredible,” he said upon receiving the news that the SoIs were responsible. “Incredible.”

DVIDS
By Staff Sgt. Margaret C. Nelson
115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

When the cowards kill us, they give us more reasons to go forward

Khalaf Ibrahim Ali, greets Capt. Quinn Eddy, commander, Company B, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division during a recent visit. Ali, a Sons of Iraq leader in Hawijah, Iraq, shot and killed a suicide bomber, Apr. 2, who was attempting to assassinate him.

Khalaf Ibrahim Ali had just finished checking up on his fellow Sons of Iraq around the city. It was April 2. The day was turning out to be another hot one in Hawijah, located approximately 60 miles south of Kirkuk City in the Kirkuk province. He had just sat down to cool-off with an ice cream when a young man he did not recognize approached. In a blink-of-an-eye, Ali would be wrestling with a suicide bomber bent on killing him.

“I heard him ask someone if I was Abuna,” Ali, 54, said. Abuna (Arabic for our father), is Ali’s nickname. And then Ali noticed how nervous this person appeared, sweat visible on his face and clothing, and how one half of his body did not appear normal…”much larger and bumpy,” is how he described it. “I looked into his eyes, and saw fear.” Ali’s gut told him to react to a threat. “I saw his arm moving by his side and his hand was squeezing something.” What Ali saw was the suicide bomber’s failed attempts to trigger an improvised explosive device strapped to his upper body. It malfunctioned. This opportunity allowed Ali to fire a round from his weapon into the attacker’s chest. At the conclusion of this encounter; a suicide bomber and an innocent bystander would be killed.

Ali was back to work the next day. Undaunted by this and other failed attempts on his life in recent months…these attacks and those against other SoIs in the area, seem to fuel his determination further. “If those that try to kill me think that I am afraid…they are wrong,” the father of 11 children said. He believes it is the extremists that fear the SoI’s who number over 7,000 in Hawijah.

“They are trying to stop Sahwah efforts here. They will not,” he said. Sahwah is what the locals refer to reconciliation efforts here, also known as Musalaha elsewhere. “When the cowards kill us, they give us more reasons to go forward.”

He is confident that Sahwah will succeed and he encourages anyone who may be undecided to “give up their arms and join their brothers in their efforts to take their villages, towns, and cities back from terrorists who, kill us, our wives, our children, our dreams and our future,” he said.

While his men consider him a hero, Ali considers his coalition brothers the heroes, referring to Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division whose area of operation includes the city of Hawijah. “Lt. Col. Vanek and Capt. Eddy are the heroes. Their Soldiers continue to risk their lives to help us establish peace here and are always doing good for our people and assisting in their efforts to rebuild…we owe them so much…they are the true heroes,” he said.

The heroes Ali credits are; Lt. Col. Christopher Vanek commander of 1-87, and Capt. Quinn Eddy, commander, Bravo Company, 1-87.

Since Sahwah’s inception in December 2007, overall violence in this Sunni-Arab dominated portion of northeastern Iraq, has experienced nearly an 80 percent drop in activity…Sons of Iraq continue to sign up throughout the Kirkuk Province numbering over 9,000 to-date, according to Maj. Sean Wilson, 1-10th Mtn. Div., public affairs officer.

DVIDS
By Staff Sgt. Margaret C. Nelson
115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment