THE TENSION: Rockets Pound Weapons Cache Near Bayji, Iraq

A Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System fires a 227 mm rocket at a building that insurgents were using to store explosives and a nearby weapons cache in the open desert near the northern-Iraqi city of Bayji, Dec. 27. It was confirmed the GMLRS from, Detachment 1, Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery Regiment from Fort Sill, Okla., destroyed the target. Photographer: Spc. Richard Rzepka, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs.

Dispatches from the Front:

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq, Dec. 27, 2007 -- U.S. Forces in northern Iraq destroyed a storage facility containing explosives used in the making of vehicle-borne bombs, and a weapons cache in the open desert near Bayji this morning.

They said intelligence sources informed them of this target, which had been under suspicion for the last few days.

“We have the capabilities to strike anywhere at anytime,” said Lt. Col. Peter Wilhelm, commander of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment. “This week’s VBIED attack in Bayji destroyed more than a hundred innocent civilian lives. It is a top priority to disable the enemy’s bomb-making capabilities in this area, so we can deter these kinds of vicious attacks like this from ever happening again.”

The Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System from Detachment 1, Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery Regiment from Fort Sill, Okla., were in support of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) operations, which maintain the peace in the restive city.

(Courtesy Story from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs.)