Five significant weapons caches capable of producing more than 11,400 makeshift bombs were found in Anbar province in Iraq last week, military officials said Tuesday.
The Rawah Iraqi Police and Khalidiyah Iraqi Police and Transition Team found one of the caches about 7 miles west of the community on March 7.
Locals directed them to three more caches, according to a news release issued by Multi-National Corps-Iraq.
The four caches included 42 PG9 rockets, 28 60 mm mortar rounds, 28 107 mm rockets, 46 82 mm mortar rounds, 1,850 blasting caps, 47 14.5 mm rounds, two Sagger guided missiles, three Sagger practice guided missiles, 1,079 fuses, a tripod, three anti-aircraft guns and three 100 mm Heat-T projectiles. The weaponry was destroyed.
Earlier in the month, the team found a cache of 36,300 usable blasting caps, including 24,900 nonelectric and 11,400 electric ones. The electric ones could have been used for that many bombs, officials said.
The officials say locals and citizens groups have helped calm Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold that was wracked by violence until fed-up residents began to cooperate with U.S. troops about a year ago.
The groups, whose members are paid by the U.S. military, conduct patrols and man checkpoints. The groups have spread from Anbar province to the point where officials say there are now 90,000 members throughout Iraq.
But insurgents have retaliated with bombings and assassinations of Iraqis who have cooperated with the U.S., including sheiks who originated and led the citizens groups.
