Working in deep woods, believe it or not.

Battery C, Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, along with Soldiers from the Iraqi Army took part in a clearing operation outside of Combat Out-Post Zaganiyah in the densely packed palm groves May 28.

IA Soldiers, along with members of the Sons of Iraq from three different Iraqi towns took part in the palm grove clearing operation, said Capt. Charles Knoll, Battery C, Fires Squadron, 2nd SCR.

“The city of Bukais used to be an al-Qaeda in Iraq stronghold in northern Iraq,” said 1st Sgt. Richard Perez, Battery C, Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

“The AQI were using their position to terrorize and intimidate the innocent people who lived in the city,” said Perez.

IA, SOI and CF were able to push the al-Qaeda in Iraq presence out of the city, said Knoll. The AQI took up sanctuary in the palm groves that surround the city.

The thick foliage provided an ideal location for the AQI to hide weapons caches and conduct secret operations, according to Perez.

The palm grove clearing operation is conducted almost regularly, said Perez. It’s important to clear the AQI presence from the groves and not allow them to feel comfortable operating in our area of operations.

“The Iraqis are taking the lead on this operation,” said Knoll. “The Iraqi Army and SOI are going to be the tip of the spear on this operation. The American forces are here in a purely supportive role.”

Two platoons from the Fires Brigade were stationed in blocking positions around the palm groves, isolating the objective, as the Iraqi forces swept through May 28, said Staff Sgt. Ronis Gutierrez, platoon sergeant, Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

In the course of the operation, three AQI were killed, said Gutierrez. More than 46 mortars were found in various weapons caches throughout the palm grove. Once we eliminate the AQI presence, it will allow the Coalition forces to focus on providing and building basic services for the people of the adjacent areas, said Knoll.

“The Iraqis really took the fight to the AQI here today,” said Knoll. “The Iraqi Army is beginning to develop their own plans and conduct their own missions independent of Coalition forces.”

According to the unit, it is a good indicator of their willingness to take on the broader responsibility of providing security for their own people.

“The Iraqi Army Soldiers are very professional, and they are very eager to take their country back from the AQI and other insurgent groups,” said Perez.

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The Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement discovered a cache of anti-tank mines after taking small arms fire from an unknown number of terrorists, April 14.

The Department of Border Enforcement soldiers returned fire in self-defense, driving the terrorists toward the Iranian border. More than 160 anti-tank mines were found after the terrorists broke contact.

The Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement in northern Iraq includes more than 8,700 agents and covers nine points of entry. The Department of Border Enforcement is responsible for patrolling the border and conducting other assigned law enforcement duties.

The Department of Border Enforcement in northern Iraq is part of the overall 150,000-person Iraqi Security Force.

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The town of Tuz, Iraq has played a significant role in Coalition operations since 2003, and today more of its 15,000 residents have reliable electricity.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in northern Iraq completed an electrical network project in February that brings electricity generated at the Bayji power plant to approximately 3,000 Iraqi homes in this village located 110 miles north of Baghdad.

“We expanded the existing distribution system so that the same amount of electricity could be provided to more homes in the neighborhood,” said Oni Gomez, resident engineer in the Gulf Region North district’s Tikrit Resident Office.

Rehabilitating the existing Tuz power network included installing 30 new transformers, as well as eight kilometers of conductors and power poles, Gomez added. The contractor began work in October 2007 and the project was turned over to the Director of Electricity in Tuz on Feb. 12. The $1.1 million project was funded through the Economic Support Fund.

“The way forward from here is for power generation to be increased,” Gomez said, “so that the system we installed in this project can be used to its full potential.”

The Gulf Region North district provides project and construction management services for military and civil construction in the seven Northern provinces of Iraq, helping the new provincial governments assume responsibility for managing their infrastructure development, as well as the capability to sustain it.

To date, the Gulf Region North district has completed 207 reconstruction projects in the Salah ah Din province, totaling $209 million. Another 28 projects are currently ongoing, totaling $64.4 million.

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AQI running like the cowards they are.

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(Story by Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service)

A surge in military operations and a shift in local support in northern Iraq has driven many al Qaeda fighters out of cities that once provided them safe haven and into the desert, or even out of the country, a commander in the region said Monday.
Citizens in the four-province region of Multi-National Division – North have begun shifting their support to Coalition and Iraqi forces in “droves,” and security gains are increasingly putting extremists on the run with no clear place to go to be safe, said Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Multi-National Division – North and the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division. The northern division is about the size of Pennsylvania and includes Diyala, Salahuddin, Ninevah and Tamim provinces.

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