OIF Summary; Nov. 1, 2008: Troops in Iraq Degrade al-Qaeda Networks, Nab 17 Suspects

Dispatches from the Front:

BAGHDAD, Nov. 1, 2008 -- Coalition forces detained 17 suspects during operations Friday and Saturday targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) networks throughout the country.

Friday near Qayyarah, about 60 km south of Mosul, forces targeted a man assessed to be an AQI facilitator. Forces captured the suspected terrorist and detained another man for further questioning.

Also Friday, forces detained five suspected terrorists in Bayji, about 160 km south of Mosul. One of them is an alleged AQI weapons transporter.

Two men suspected to be foreign terrorist facilitators were captured by Coalition forces Saturday in Mosul. The men, who reports suggest have connections to AQI leaders in the Jazeera Desert, were detained along with one additional suspect.

In Baghdad Saturday, forces targeted and captured an alleged AQI weapons and explosives facilitator. Reports also suggest the man has connections to AQI operatives throughout the region. Another man, assessed to be an associate of the suspected terrorist, was detained for further questioning.

Also Saturday, Coalition forces targeted another suspected weapons and explosives purchaser about 41 km west of Kirkuk. There, one suspect was detained for additional questioning.

A Fallujah-based car bomb facilitator was the target of an operation that netted two suspects Saturday about 43 km southwest of Baghdad.

Two more suspected terrorists were detained Saturday during another Coalition force operation targeting AQI leadership about 32 km southwest of Baghdad.

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

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