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Iraqi-U.S. search yields car bomb

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kevin Bromley | Capt. Jason Foote (left) a native of West Palm Beach Fla., questions a resident about...... read more read more

TAJI, IRAQ

09.11.2005

Courtesy Story

DVIDS Hub

Spc. Matthew Wester
3-1 AD PAO

TAJI, Iraq -- Iraqi Soldiers walk back toward the palm-lined road. They have two detainees with them and, in the absence of a translator, make gestures to American Soldiers to show them what they saw in a nearby farmyard"one of the terrorist's deadliest weapons: a car bomb.

The Iraqi Soldiers are members of 2nd Mechanized Battalion, 1st Mechanized Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division and on Sept. 6 they teamed up with Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, nicknamed "Thunderbolt," to cordon and search an area northwest of Baghdad that has been a flashpoint of terrorist activity.

The 3rd Infantry Division's Aviation Brigade also provided air support during the search.

"The operation was in an area known as the "Circle of Death" in the Thunderbolt area of operations where five major routes come together," said Maj. Steve Lutsky, operations officer for 2/70 Armor Bn. "We've had intelligence reports of terrorist activity plus we've had several improvised explosive devices in the area."

Lutsky, from Hinesville, Ga., said the main goal of the mission, called "Operation Royalty," was to break up two terrorist cells in the village.

The operation paid off when IA Soldiers caught one group of terrorists red-handed as they were putting the finishing touches on a car modified to be used in a suicide attack.

The terrorists didn't get to finish the job.

"(The IA Soldiers) were going down a driveway to a house that was set back from the road. They identified two men who were working on a car, and when they saw the Iraqi Soldiers, they attempted to push the car," Lutsky said.

The men ran away from the Iraqi Soldiers, but were soon apprehended.

"The Iraqi Soldiers noticed something suspicious, the two men fled the car with the engine still running, and the IA chased them down," said Capt. Bryan Cecrle, commander of Thunderbolt's A Company.

Cecrle, who recently took command of A. Co., saw the action unfold first-hand during his first major operation in charge of a tank company.

"I was able to get up on the roof of a house and observe the search along the edge of the canal for the two individuals who fled," he said.

Cecrle said the success of Iraqi Soldiers during the mission was part of a trend he has noticed since he worked alongside them in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad, and has seen exponential growth in their abilities.

"Every time you show them something, they grab that, take it as their own and continue on," he said. "It's amazing to watch them developing as they go."

"Our intent is to take that one (Iraqi Army) company and to integrate them so that we can turn the terrain over to them," Lutsky said.

The 1st Mech. Bde. troops are well on their way"as shown by the vehicle-borne IED find, Lutsky said.

"Just the ammunition contained in the car, when it was destroyed by explosive ordnance disposal team, created a 25-foot by 15-foot crater. It was going to be a big VBIED," he said. "It would have done some damage."

The vehicle contained "at least 500 pounds of ordnance," said the 47th Ordnance Company's Staff Sgt. Josh Z. Liles, noncommissioned-officer-in-charge of the team that destroyed the car at the site.

"The wheel wells were low. There was something pretty heavy in the trunk," said the Fort Hood, Texas, resident.

After the detonation, EOD Soldiers verified the car contained five propane tanks, eight 130-millimeter high-explosive shells and a large number of anti-aircraft rounds.

"If it hit a convoy, it could have destroyed at least one humvee and killed anyone within 50 meters," Liles said.

"We know this mission was successful, and we saved lives," Lutsky said.