U.S. and Iraqi forces on Monday kicked off a huge sweep of areas west of Baghdad suspected of being safe havens for insurgents launching attacks in Iraq’s capital.
The offensive, called Operation Squeeze Play, included seven battalions of Iraqi Army and Special Police Commando forces along with U.S. soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. It targets the Abu Ghraib district west of Baghdad.
In the first 24 hours of the sweep, combined forces had detained more than 285 people suspected of aiding or carrying out insurgent attacks. There was no information on whether those arrested actively fought the U.S. and Iraqi forces, or if they were arrested as targets of specific raids.
“This is the largest combined operation with Iraqi security forces to date. The Iraqi Security Forces have the lead in this operation while we perform shaping and supporting roles,” Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman, said in a military release.
Battlefield “shaping” refers to such operations as air support, artillery and blocking positions.
According to U.S. military officials, one of the aims of Squeeze Play is to reduce the number of car bomb attacks in Baghdad. In a planning meeting before the mission kicked off, officials said, Iraqi and U.S. commanders shared information on how to identify car bombs before they are detonated.
Some of the hallmarks of recent car bomb attacks have been vehicles with tinted windows; those that ride low to the ground or tilted to one side; writing on the sides of vehicles; or vehicles driving very fast.
Insurgent attacks have increased in recent weeks, with at least 550 security forces and Iraqi civilians killed in less than a month. The Abu Ghraib district includes the U.S. military prison complex of the same name; it came under attack last month. The district also includes the notorious road between the capital and the airport, often called the most dangerous stretch of road in Iraq.
Sunday raids net 22 suspected insurgents
Soldiers operating in and around Baghdad on Sunday detained 22 suspected insurgents in a series of early-morning raids, including one that ended with two men arrested and $6 million in cash seized.
Officials say they believe the money was going to be used to fund attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.
According to a Multi-National Force-Iraq statement, soldiers from Task Force Baghdad conducted six raids. Those operations were followed up by a series of raids led by a pair of Iraqi Army battalions.
Soldiers fight off attack on U.S. base
Late Sunday, members of the 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division were led to two people suspected of planning a car-bomb attack against a base in Baghdad.
Also, a U.S. convoy was hit by a roadside bomb Sunday in western Baghdad, but no injuries were reported.
In Samarra, in northern Iraq, U.S. soldiers fought off attackers who set off two car bombs outside an American base around 7 a.m. Monday. The two car bombs went off at the perimeter of the base.
Soldiers reacting to the first car bomb were then attacked by a man who detonated a suicide bomb under his vest.
Four soldiers were injured in the attacks.
— Stars and Stripes
