THE TENSION: OIF Summary; Dec. 10, 2008: Troops Kill Attacker, Capture 18 in Iraq

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2008 -- Coalition forces killed an armed attacker and detained 18 suspected terrorists while targeting al-Qaida in Iraq leadership and bombing networks in Iraq today and yesterday.

South of Baghdad, coalition forces today targeted a suspected bomb facilitator who reportedly was in a Salman Pak residence. When they called for the building’s occupants to surrender, a man at first complied, but then went back inside the house and attempted to engage forces with an AK-47 assault rifle. Forces fired on the armed man, killing him. The man later was identified as the wanted terrorist. Forces also detained seven suspected terrorists.

Also today, in Samarra, northwest of Baghdad, coalition forces detained six suspected terrorists believed to be linked to a regional al-Qaida in Iraq leader. During the operation, forces seized multiple rifles and a pipe bomb.

Elsewhere, coalition forces detained three suspects yesterday while targeting an al-Qaida in Iraq leader in Beiji, south of Mosul. Also yesterday, southwest of Baghdad, forces detained two wanted men suspected of bomb facilitation in the Fallujah area and of ties to al-Qaida in Iraq leadership in Anbar province.

In other operations yesterday:

Iraqi and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers seized a cache north of Baghdad that included 10 TNT booster charges.

Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers seized a cache in West Rashid that included 10 rocket-propelled grenades with propellant, 14 hand grenades and a 120 mm mortar.

A “Sons of Iraq” citizen security group member found a weapons cache east of Baghdad in Nissan village that included a 125 mm round, a 115 mm round, a 106 mm round and a 100 mm round. The man turned the munitions over to Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers.

Iraqi soldiers turned over ordnance collected throughout the week from Baghdad’s Sadr City district to Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers. The soldiers destroyed the munitions that included 12 mortars, a fire extinguisher, a 75 mm rocket and two 40 mm projectiles.