Ultra Magnus clears al-Qaida from former Diyala province stronghold

Photo By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett | Spc. Billy Cassis, Sgt. Brandon Dean and other Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Troop C, 2nd...... read more read more

Photo By Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett | Spc. Billy Cassis, Sgt. Brandon Dean and other Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Troop C, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4thStryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Task Force Iron, walk away from vehicle they torched near an insurgent safehouse south of Hussein Hamadi village, Diyala province, Iraq, Oct. 29, during Operation Ultra Magnus. The vehicle was used by al-Qaeia in Iraq operatives to conduct mission in southern Diyala province.  see less | View Image Page

HUSSEIN HAMADI, IRAQ

11.06.2007

Story by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett 

4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

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HUSSEIN HAMADI, Iraq – Partnering with the Iraqi Army, Coalition Forces killed five al-Qaida in Iraq operatives, wounded three and detained seven individuals during Operation Ultra Magnus in and around Hussein Hamadi village, Iraq, Oct. 28-30.

Soldiers from Troop C, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment along with Iraqi soldiers from 3rd Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division swept through the town in southern Diyala province which had previously been an AQI stronghold.

"AQI used the area as a headquarters," said Capt. Al Bangura, Troop C, 2-1 Cav. Commander. "They stored their weapons there, lived on the fringes of the town and from there, they would push their fighters out to conduct attacks. (The local people) have lost contact with the Iraqi government for the last two years due to AQI sealing off the area."

AQI had taken over Hussein Hamadi, an affluent village located 15 miles south of Baqouba and six miles northeast of Khan Bani Sa'ad. AQI had forced all the Shia population to flee, and the remaining villagers were forced to abide by the insurgents extremist laws.

"AQI had setup very strict, fundamentalist Islamic rules," Bangura said. "The rules were so strict that you couldn't even smoke in the town. It's a crime punishable by death. One farmer was arrested for selling his products to a Shia. That was his crime."
To fund their operations, AQI kidnapped village members and held them for ransom, effectively holding the whole town hostage.

On day one of the operation, the troops conducted an air assault into two villages directly south of Hussein Hamadi causing AQI to flee north to their stronghold where they thought they would be safe.

During the first day, in the villages of Sayyid Awwad and Abu Seyah, the troops discovered a hut that AQI was using as a prison and torture chamber. They liberated one individual who was chained and had been beaten severally.

The man was kidnapped Oct. 25 in Baqouba "at a shop by five men in a car, because of my brother who is in the Iraqi Army," the man said through a translator. "They wanted information and for my brother and me to work for al-Qaida."

The young man refused to give AQI the information or his allegiance. He stated that he was to stand a trial held by an insurgent leader for refusing to help the AQI, a crime punishable by death.

"They beat me with cables while holding a gun to my head, but I would not work for them because I would not betray my brother." he stated. "These are very bad guys, they do bad things, I would never support them."

"When we found him he had been beaten severely," Bangura said. "He had been beaten with ropes and cords, to the point where he couldn't even get his muscles to move. It took three hours before we were even able to move him."

Also on the first day, the Soldiers detained an individual suspected of conducting successful sniper attacks against Iraqi Security Forces.

They also brought in a medical team to treat the villagers. Since AQI had effectively shut the area off from the outside, the local populace was unable to provide for their basic sanitation and medical needs.

"We brought in a lot of medicine, focusing on the illnesses caused by the lack of clean water," Bangura said, noting that the troops treated 78 local Iraqis.

On the second day of Ultra Magnus, the U.S. and Iraqi troops air assaulted in to Hussein Hamadi in the early morning hours, clearing house by house.

Apache helicopters working with the Soldiers engaged three individuals they spotted fleeing the village with weapons. The attack wounded all three and the ground troops were able to detain them, after treating their wounds.

An unmanned aircraft in the area, spotted two more armed individuals also fleeing the village, and the ground troops fired on them, killing one. The UAC continued to track the second individual, following it to a hut several kilometers south of the village.

With the sun coming up, Charlie Battery's 1st Platoon moved tactically to the hut. When they arrived at what turned out to be an AQI safehouse, at least five armed individuals fled the home. The troops immediately killed two individuals and then engaged in a 20-minute firefight with the remaining AQI operatives who had fled into the trees. Using rifles and grenades, the troops killed two more and wounded a fifth.

"It was definitely a situation of kill or be killed, and that's exactly what happened; it was either them or us," explained Sgt. David Boor, team leader with 1st Platoon, Troop C, 2-1 Cav. "It was a very high-risk operation. We knew we were going into a hornet's nest."

"It sounds weird but, that's the mission," agreed 1st Platoon leader 1st Lt. Ron Vineyard. "If we hadn't killed them, they would have killed us."

Inside the hut and on the dead enemy, the troops found several weapons, including three AK-47s, 15 full AK-47 magazines, 1 RPK rifle, two pistols, several grenades and three tubes possibly used for making explosively formed projectiles.

Also found in the hut was a guard roster. U.S. intelligence analysts accompanying the mission believe AQI had setup a 24-hour guard to keep Shia out of the area.

Al-Qaida definitely had a hold on the area," said Sgt. 1st Class James Tembrock, 1st Platoon sergeant. "The guard roster proved a lot, not just in this town (Hussein Hamadi) but the two southern towns as well. This whole area is a staging area for attacks into the western area and all of Diyala province for that matter."

On day three of the operation, the joint forces went back through the town tactically questioning the remaining villagers, trying to gain additional intelligence on AQI activity in the area. They also cleared the palm groves surrounding the area looking for weapon caches.

"With us working with the Iraq army, I think (the villagers) understand that we are trying to help," Tembrock said. "We came here and got rid of the bad guys pretty quick. It didn't take us more than six hours to do it."

The final tally from the three-day operation included five enemy killed in action, three enemy wounded in action, seven detainees, six improvised rocket launchers, eight AK-47s, one rocket launcher and various other assorted weapons and ammunition.

Security has improved for the town," concluded 1st Sgt. Ghafil Mahdy of 3rd Company, 3-2-5 Iraqi Army, through a translator. "We captured lots of weapons and detained several insurgents and improved security for the village. We showed that we are working hard to finish off the terrorists and make the area more secure."

No U.S. Soldiers, Iraqi troops or Iraqi civilians were harmed during Operation Ultra Magnus.