Khalidyah Safer After US Marines Nab Terror Suspect

Marines with 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company C, Task Force 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, gather for a squad photo just days after conducting a recent cordon and search operation, which led to the detainment of the battalion’s number one High Value Individual (HVI). The Marines acted as the assault section during the operation, which was successfully completed with no casualties to Marines, local nationals or the HVI. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Scott Schmidt, Regimental Combat Team 1.)

Dispatches from the Front:

KHALIDYAH, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2008 -- Marines with Company C, Task Force 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, conducted a cordon and search operation recently, which led to the detainment of the battalion’s number one High Value Individual.

Muhammad Ayid Fayyad is suspected of being involved with individuals who planned and executed attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces.

The company learned Fayyad was in the vicinity of a local barbershop in Khalidyah and quickly responded by establishing a cordon around the area.

Marines with 4th Platoon, Company C, set up blocking positions on the main roads leading in and out of the cordon where the company’s Personal Security Detachment provided security for the closed off area.

Lance Cpl. Chelsey Wilson, a 24-year-old assaultman from Pensacola, Fla., was a vehicle commander in 2nd Platoon, which was responsible for the assault and search of the area.

Wilson said as he and two other Marines patrolled near the barbershop they began to notice suspicious behavior.

“There were four men cutting hair inside the shop at the time,” Wilson recalled. “Some of them tried to leave when they saw us, but we held them in the shop.”

The Marines realized one of the four men in the shop was indeed Fayyad after questioning the men and then took him into custody.

Sgt. Keith Fuqua, a 25-year-old squad leader from Milton, Fla., said it was no surprise Fayyad did not resist being detained.

“The operation was successful due to the precision in which it was executed,” Fuqua said. “Every element came together and we got this guy off the streets. The Iraqis are safer.”

Fayyad was immediately taken to the battalion’s Detainee Collection Point for questioning, and then was transported to a higher command for follow-on questioning.

The operation was successfully completed with no casualties to Marines, local nationals or Fayyad.

(Report by Lance Cpl. Scott Schmidt, Regimental Combat Team 1.)

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