Iraqi Security Forces foil suicide car bomb attack

14 Jun 07
Multi-National Division-Baghdad Public Affairs Office.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Security Forces prevented a suicide car bomb attack on a Coalition forces combat outpost in Khan Bani Sa’ad, located in the Diyala province, Tuesday.

Iraqi Army Soldiers received a tip and description of a potential suicide vehicle bomb and engaged the vehicle with small-arms fire as it approached the outpost. The vehicle detonated prematurely, before it could reach the outer perimeter.

Two Coalition force Soldiers received minor wounds and were treated on the scene.

“The truly amazing thing is that the Iraqi Soldiers, who are mostly Shia, got the tip from local Sunnis, who had seen a suspicious vehicle driven by masked men traveling towards the outpost,” said Lt. Col. Marshall Dougherty, commander, 2nd squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

“This is yet another example of the people of Iraq refusing to allow terrorists to destroy their lives,” Dougherty said.

The tip from the Iraqi citizen allowed the Iraqi Army to seek out and destroy the suicide vehicle borne explosive device, saving the lives of the countless number of casualties both Iraqi and Coalition, said Dougherty.

The Iraqi and Coalition forces have been engaging the local population of Khan Bani Sa’ad for the last several weeks in an effort to gain their trust.

“It’s obvious that despite their tribal or ethnic differences, the people of Khan Bani Sa’ad have come to trust their Iraq Security Forces and no longer will tolerate insurgent violence here,” said Dougherty. “Today was a good day.”

Immediately following the explosion, Iraqi Army Soldiers worked with Iraqi Police to secure the area and collect evidence.

“I could not be more proud of the Iraqi Security Forces today,” Dougherty said.

Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces continue to work together in order to gain the trust of the Iraqi people.

“Troop B, 2-1 Cav. Regt. lives and works in the combat outpost with Iraqi Army Soldiers,” Dougherty said.

Tips from Iraqi locals shows the trust they are gaining in the Iraqi Security Forces and their continued dedication to a safe and secure Iraq.

Photo - U.S. Army Spc. Marquis Dawkins, an infantryman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, surveys more than 120 five-gallon cans of nitric acid, a component used to make bombs, discovered at a bomb-making “factory” in Baghdad’s East Rashid District Monday. Every cache found by Iraqi troops and Coalition forces helps protect the population from future attacks. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ben Washburn, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs.

Suicide Bomb Attacks Present Top Challenge in Iraq, Fallon Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2007 – Suicide-bomb attacks on coalition and Iraqi troops and civilians, orchestrated by Al Qaeda and Sunni extremists, present the top challenge in establishing security and stability in Iraq, the commander of U.S. Central Command testified at a Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill today.

“Of all the things that we have on the plate in Iraq, the one that I think is first and foremost as a target for us to try to get a grip on and to neutralize is the group that is very clearly al Qaeda-motivated that is linked to Sunni extremists in this country that are perpetrating these big suicide bombings,” Navy Adm. William J. Fallon told House Armed Services Committee members.

Al Qaeda in Iraq and affiliated Sunni extremists want to kill and maim U.S. troops in Iraq in order to sap the coalition’s will, Fallon said. The extremists also want to kill and injure as many civilians as possible to foment sectarian strife and destabilize the new Iraqi government.

“In Iraq, we need an essential degree of security and stability so that the fledgling institutions in this country can actually be able to benefit the citizens,” Fallon said, adding he’d like to see “a substantially reduced level of bloodshed and violence.”

Fallon took over as CENTCOM’s chief March 16. Since then, he told the committee, he’s traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern couintries that come under his command’s purview.

After discussions with key U.S. and Iraqi military and civilian leaders and sifting through reams of data, Fallon said, he found significant signs of a reduction in the number of murders and other kinds of sectarian violence in Iraq.

“However, I will tell you quite honestly that it bothers me and I hold my breath regularly in anticipation, regrettably, of the suicide bombers,” Fallon said. “These people that are just seemingly, totally bent on creating as much chaos and bloodshed as possible, particularly against the civilian communities. I think we are challenged to work against this problem.”

The best way to circumvent al Qaeda’s strategy in Iraq is to convince the country’s Sunni population that it has a viable stake in the new Iraq’s future, Fallon said.

The al Qaeda-Sunni extremist nexus “is the most destabilizing” element in Iraq today, he reiterated.

A key to establishing stability across Iraq is to convince its people there’s a better life for them down the road, the admiral said.

“I’d like to see a place in which people have confidence that their future is going to be better than what they’d seen in the past and what they have today,” Fallon said. “And how we’re going to measure that (Iraqi confidence) is one of the key things that I’m working on right now.”