British troops seize suspected terror chef in Iraq
8th December 2006
British soldiers - and a few Danish soldiers (who were kind enough to take part in the War in Iraq) - have seized a terror suspect in Afghanistan.
Duke of Lancaster Regiment
The Staffordshire Regiment
British troops in Iraq today seized a suspected terror chief and his bomb-making factory during a daring night-time raid.
About 1,000 soldiers were involved in the pincer movement swoop during the early hours at a residential area in the northern suburbs of Basra.
Five men were detained and troops found four primed-and-ready improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which it is believed were less than 48 hours from being used in attacks against multinational forces.
The suspects will now be questioned about terrorist activities in the area, including a bridge bombing in the city last month which killed four British troops.
About 700 soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster and Staffordshire Regiments and more than 100 soldiers from the Black Watch battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland took part in the massive raid, which was dubbed Operation Pisa (until 2005, the Black Watch was a proper regiment of the British army, but is now a batallion of the newly formed Royal Regiment of Scotland after the Black Watch and the other Scottish regiments were merged together in the Government's plan to create new "Super Regiments" in the British Army).
The British Forces stormed five addresses while their Danish allies surrounded the area, which is plagued by inter-tribal violence.
Commanders described the raid, which was over in minutes, without injuries, as a 'complete tactical success'.
Raid ... British soldiers search for weapons
The operation began when soldiers from 2nd Battalion Lancaster crossed the Qarmat Ali bridge from the south and came under fire.
At the same time, troops from 1st Battalion Staffordshire made an amphibious landing with 50 marines from Plymouth-based 539 Assault Boat Squadron from the Qarmat Ali waterway.
Meanwhile the Black Watch troops moved down from the north in Snatch Land Rovers.
British military spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said: "We assaulted five objectives, five houses and five people, all of whom we strongly suspect of being involved in kidnapping and murders of Iraqi civilians and assaults on multinational forces.
"In one of the houses we found four large artillery-type shells which had already been wired up as IEDs - when they have been wired up they have a shelf-life of about 48 hours so we suspect that these were about to be used in an attack.
"The operation began at 3am and was over at 7.30am. Job well done."
The Staffordshire and Lancaster regiments detained the suspected terror chief and two other men after uncovering the bomb-making factory and a haul of AK47s.
At another address nearby, the Black Watch - which deployed to Iraq on its third tour of duty last month - arrested two men and found a haul of rifles, a heavy machine gun and paperwork which intelligence chiefs suspect is related to criminal activities.
The suspects apprehended by the Scottish troops were roused from their sleep by the terrifying vision of an eight-man strike team wearing night vision goggles and brandishing SA80 rifles advancing through the darkness.
Major Ben Wrench, of 3 Scots, who led the operation, said: "The suspects were taken totally by surprise. We surrounded the target room, conducted a strike, or wake-up call, and apprehended the occupants of the building.
"We surrounded the property within one minute and secured the inside of the building in the next minute.
"Within another 20 minutes Danish military police had searched the property inside-out with a fine-tooth comb.
"After 25 minutes we'd extracted from the area with the five detainees.
"It was a complete tactical success."
dailymail.co.uk
8th December 2006
British soldiers - and a few Danish soldiers (who were kind enough to take part in the War in Iraq) - have seized a terror suspect in Afghanistan.
Duke of Lancaster Regiment
The Staffordshire Regiment
British troops in Iraq today seized a suspected terror chief and his bomb-making factory during a daring night-time raid.
About 1,000 soldiers were involved in the pincer movement swoop during the early hours at a residential area in the northern suburbs of Basra.
Five men were detained and troops found four primed-and-ready improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which it is believed were less than 48 hours from being used in attacks against multinational forces.
The suspects will now be questioned about terrorist activities in the area, including a bridge bombing in the city last month which killed four British troops.
About 700 soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster and Staffordshire Regiments and more than 100 soldiers from the Black Watch battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland took part in the massive raid, which was dubbed Operation Pisa (until 2005, the Black Watch was a proper regiment of the British army, but is now a batallion of the newly formed Royal Regiment of Scotland after the Black Watch and the other Scottish regiments were merged together in the Government's plan to create new "Super Regiments" in the British Army).
The British Forces stormed five addresses while their Danish allies surrounded the area, which is plagued by inter-tribal violence.
Commanders described the raid, which was over in minutes, without injuries, as a 'complete tactical success'.
Raid ... British soldiers search for weapons
The operation began when soldiers from 2nd Battalion Lancaster crossed the Qarmat Ali bridge from the south and came under fire.
At the same time, troops from 1st Battalion Staffordshire made an amphibious landing with 50 marines from Plymouth-based 539 Assault Boat Squadron from the Qarmat Ali waterway.
Meanwhile the Black Watch troops moved down from the north in Snatch Land Rovers.
British military spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said: "We assaulted five objectives, five houses and five people, all of whom we strongly suspect of being involved in kidnapping and murders of Iraqi civilians and assaults on multinational forces.
"In one of the houses we found four large artillery-type shells which had already been wired up as IEDs - when they have been wired up they have a shelf-life of about 48 hours so we suspect that these were about to be used in an attack.
"The operation began at 3am and was over at 7.30am. Job well done."
The Staffordshire and Lancaster regiments detained the suspected terror chief and two other men after uncovering the bomb-making factory and a haul of AK47s.
At another address nearby, the Black Watch - which deployed to Iraq on its third tour of duty last month - arrested two men and found a haul of rifles, a heavy machine gun and paperwork which intelligence chiefs suspect is related to criminal activities.
The suspects apprehended by the Scottish troops were roused from their sleep by the terrifying vision of an eight-man strike team wearing night vision goggles and brandishing SA80 rifles advancing through the darkness.
Major Ben Wrench, of 3 Scots, who led the operation, said: "The suspects were taken totally by surprise. We surrounded the target room, conducted a strike, or wake-up call, and apprehended the occupants of the building.
"We surrounded the property within one minute and secured the inside of the building in the next minute.
"Within another 20 minutes Danish military police had searched the property inside-out with a fine-tooth comb.
"After 25 minutes we'd extracted from the area with the five detainees.
"It was a complete tactical success."
dailymail.co.uk
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