Iraqi National Police seized nearly 200 weapons during search operations in the New Baghdad security district of eastern Baghdad, June 29.

At 11:30 a.m., police from the 4th Brigade, 1st National Police Division reported confiscating about 150 weapons during a clearance operation of Muhalla 733 in the Mashtal area of New Baghdad. The weapons included 133 AK-47 rifles, four AK-22 rifles, three SKS rifles, a bolt-action rifle, two air-gun rifles, an MP-5 sub-machinegun, an RPK machinegun and six pistols.

Also in Muhalla 733, at approximately 1 p.m., police from the 4th Bde., 1st NP Div. reported confiscating 20 AK 47 rifles, two bolt-action rifles and two pistols. In addition, the security platoon assigned to 4th Bde., 1st NP Div. reported seizing 19 AK-47 rifles as part of the Muhalla 733 clearance mission at 3 p.m.

“The National Police are more vigilant than ever in enforcing a weapons free zone to protect the citizens of Baghdad,” said Maj. Joey Sullinger, a spokesperson for 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light), Multi-National Division – Baghdad. “Successful missions such as this bolster the people’s confidence in the security forces that provide them safety and security, and it sends a message to militants that their days of uninhibited intimidation are over.”

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MND-B AWTs engage rocket team and heavily armed criminals

Multi-National Division – Baghdad aerial weapons teams conducted operations against criminal elements in Baghdad May 10.

Following an indirect-fire attack in central Baghdad, an MND-B AWT made positive identification of a rocket rail at the point of origin in the Sadr City district of Baghdad used to launch the attack.

The AWT engaged a criminal element on site at approximately 6:40 a.m. with two Hellfire missiles. One criminal was killed, and the rocket rail and a shack were destroyed. Secondary explosions at the site also indicate that illegal weapons also were destroyed.

At approximately 10 a.m., an AWT observed five criminals east of Al Hajj Jabr in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad. The criminals were heavily armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, two PKC light machineguns and two AK-47 rifles. The AWT fired two Hellfire missiles and killed all five men.

MND-B kill criminals, seize, destroy weapons

Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers killed four criminals engaged in attacks against Coalition forces, seized two caches and destroyed illegal weapons in operations across Baghdad May 10.

At approximately 8:45 a.m., MND-B soldiers discovered a weapons cache in Mansour containing multiple mortar rounds and a mortar bipod.

At approximately 2:45 p.m., soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a weapons cache in west Rashid containing an unknown type of rocket, an RPK machinegun, an RPK barrel and more than 350 RPK rounds.

At approximately 3 p.m., soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, killed three armed criminals with small-arms fire. A tank also engaged after the soldiers were attacked by criminals while on a barrier emplacement mission in Sadr City.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., soldiers destroyed a mortar tube and launch site after an aerial weapons team identified it in Sadr City.

At approximately 5 p.m., soldiers with 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division tank engaged and killed one criminal on a rooftop in Sadr City.

Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers killed 12 criminals and detained three in separate events in Baghdad April 20.

At 6:40 a.m., MND-B Soldiers witnessed five individuals emplacing an improvised explosive device in the Adhamiyah district. The Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment engaged the criminals as they were emplacing the IED. The IED detonated during the engagement killing three and wounding one.

Also in Adhamiyah at approximately 8 a.m., the 1st Bn, 21st Inf. Soldiers engaged and killed seven criminals carrying three PKC machine guns, three AK-47s and a rocket propelled grenade launcher. A Stryker element supporting the mission killed two more criminals carrying AK-47s on a nearby rooftop.

In another incident, Soldiers with the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment detained two men in possession of various illegal weapons and bomb making material at approximately 4 a.m. in the East Rashid district in southern Baghdad.

“We are not initiating these engagements,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, 4th Infantry Division and MND-B spokesman. “Coalition forces will continue to defend ourselves against criminals who ignore the Iraqi rule of law.”

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AP reported on March 26 “Mahdi Army commanders have told the AP that the militia has recently taken delivery of new weapons supplied by backers in Iran. The arsenal, they said, included roadside bombs, anti-aircraft guns and Soviet-designed Grad rockets.

The United States has long accused Iran of providing Shiite militias in Iraq with arms and training. Iran denies it.”

News from Iraq continues to suggest that the Iraqi Army and National Police are holding their own in their fight against the Sadr Revolt. Coalition Forces are assisting where asked but the Iraqis are doing the bulk of the fighting.

Fighting continues in Basra with United States air assets visible for the first time. On March 24, aerial assets struck at a group of IED emplacers, in the Al Hyyaniyah neighborhood and killed five. The Air Force reports “a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fired cannon rounds on to enemy combatants and an enemy vehicle in the vicinity of Basrah. The mission was reported as successful by a JTAC. A Navy F/A-18 Hornet fired cannon rounds onto an enemy building containing enemy combatants in the vicinity of Basrah. The mission was declared successful by a JTAC.”

CNN reports that the Iraqi parliament is meeting to discuss the fighting in Basra. A weekend curfew has been imposed on several cities in the south. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has offered a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons in Basra, and extended a deadline for “rogue” or “outlaw” militia elements to lay down their arms. A guns-for-cash program has also been set up to allow locals to turn in illegal weapons and receive payment for them.

In Baghdad, U.S. Troops and Iraqi security forces have been engaged in securing police stations and outposts, as well as hunting down the terrorists responsible for the many rocket and mortar attacks on the Green Zone and other parts of Baghdad in the last four days.

To this point, fighting has taken place primarily in three neighborhoods, New Baghdad, Sadr City and Kadamiyah. There have been isolated fights in other areas of the city but the main violence has been in these Shia neighborhoods.

About 79 terrorists have been killed in these attacks on Iraqi and U.S. Forces. Many Iraqis and at least five Americans have been killed in the same fighting.

Further south, in Hillah and Kut, Iraqi forces supported by U.S. Special Forces advisors, have been fighting and winning. The cost has been high for the Iraqis, with 8 policemen killed in one battle alone. Reports indicate at least 25 terrorists killed, and many other arrested by the police including a group that had taken refuge in a mosque.

There are scattered reports of violence in other cities in the south, including Nasiryia.

Additional information and analysis may be found at the Long War Journal.