Troops Nab Suspected Hezbollah Criminals in New Baghdad

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2008 -- Coalition forces picked up two suspected associates of the Kataib Hezbollah criminal network during operations this morning in Baghdad’s New Baghdad district, military officials reported.

Acting on intelligence tips, coalition forces raided the home of a suspected Kataib Hezbollah propaganda expert who is believed to have uploaded more than 30 attack videos to the criminal ring's now-defunct Web site. Coalition forces entered the house, where they detained two of the wanted man's brothers, who are believed to be involved in his criminal enterprises.

Coalition forces have detained more than 15 suspected members of Kataib Hezbollah in the last two months, officials said. Kataib Hezbollah is reported to receive funding, logistics, and weapons such as improvised rocket-assisted mortars from Iran. The group also is believed to receive guidance or direction from the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In other operations today and yesterday, coalition forces in Iraq detained 16 suspected terrorists in the central and northern parts of the country.

An alleged weapons facilitator in Mosul is in coalition custody after forces captured him and six additional suspects today. The wanted man allegedly stores explosives for terrorist attacks and delivers weapons to foreign terrorists and suicide bombers. He also is assessed to have ties to al-Qaida senior leaders in Mosul, officials said.

Coalition forces captured a wanted man and three additional suspects today in Beiji, about 160 kilometers south of Mosul. The wanted man is suspected of directly conspiring with al-Qaida leaders to plan an attack using poison.

In Suwayrah, about 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, coalition forces detained a suspect today while targeting a man involved in the al-Qaida in Iraq propaganda network. An operation yesterday in Mosul targeted the same network and netted four suspected terrorists.

In operations Aug. 20, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained suspected Iranian-backed “special groups” leaders, and Iraqi security forces dismantled a homemade booby trap in southern Baghdad’s Rashid district.

Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, detained a suspected terrorist linked to attacks using improvised explosive devices and suicide vests in Baghdad.

Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, working on actionable intelligence, arrested a suspected special groups criminal in West Rashid's Hadar neighborhood.

Meanwhile, in southwestern Baghdad’s Risalah community, Iraqi National Police discovered a homemade booby trap. The police immediately dismantled the bomb and confiscated the bomb-making materials. The police moved the munitions to a combat outpost for temporary storage and notified an explosives ordnance disposal team.

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

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