Iraq Ops Net Key Suspects; Rocket Attacks Drop

Iraq Operations Net Key Suspects; Rocket Attacks Drop

Coalition forces in Iraq killed one terrorist, captured another and detained 30 suspects in operations today.

* West of Khalis, coalition forces killed one man and captured nine thought to be involved in an al Qaeda network in northern Baghdad responsible for car bombings and explosive attacks. The network also is involved in extortion, weapons trafficking and facilitating foreign terrorists.

* South of Beiji, coalition forces captured an alleged member of a foreign terrorist network operating in the region. Three other suspects were detained. The man is suspected of ties to al Qaeda members who move weapons and funds in and out of the country.

* In operations west of Mosul and Mahmudiyah, coalition forces detained six other al Qaeda in Iraq suspects.

* In Baghdad, coalition forces captured a suspected "special groups" criminal leader and detained 10 others. The man reportedly supervised criminal trainers throughout Iraq, coordinating training that including bomb making. He also is suspected of directing attacks against Iraqis who help coalition forces.

In other news from Iraq, reported rocket and mortar attacks in the Baghdad security districts dropped by nearly half in November, officials reported. There were 49 reports in October and 25 reported for November. In the first week of December, seven indirect-fire attacks were reported. Most of the attacks are on residential and commercial neighborhoods in the Iraqi capital.

Local concerned citizen groups are fighting back by reporting insurgent weapons caches to local security forces. Since Nov. 1, security forces have found more than 200 weapons caches with more than 1,500 mortar and rocket rounds.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)

ENDS

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