January 8, 2007

Coalition Forces Seize, Destroy Homemade Explosives Facility

Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
RELEASE No. 20070107-04


Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
By Capt. Dawn WilliamsMulti-National Division – Baghdad Public Affairs

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces found and destroyed a cache used for manufacturing and assembling improvised explosive devices in the Ghazaliyah neighborhood in western Baghdad Jan. 5.Soldiers from Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Division, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, found approximately 200 pounds of unknown explosives dispersed between two houses near the Al-Shadra Mosque in Ghazaliyah.

The first of the two adjacent houses was identified as a homemade explosives facility while the second was identified as the bomb-making assembly site.

After securing the area surrounding the two houses, an explosive ordnance disposal team arrived at the site to assess and identify all the explosive materials. In addition to the 200 pounds of homemade explosives, the Soldiers found washing machine timers, Iraqna cell phone cards, passports, hundreds of blasting caps, time fuses, detonation cords and numerous physics and engineering books.

After an initial assessment, the explosives ordnance disposal team leader and the on-scene commander spoke with a local sheik and community leaders to explain the severity of the situation. The on-scene commander explained that these houses were an explosives and bomb making facility and recommended disposing of the items in place. The local community leaders agreed to this course of action.

After clearing the site for safety, the explosives ordnance team conducted a controlled detonation. After destroying the explosives, the team checked the site and identified any collateral damage to the surrounding houses and informed landowners and local national personnel of the appropriate claims process.

The explosive ordnance disposal team collected samples of all suspected explosive material for further analysis.

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