Iraqi National Police perform first battalion-level clearing operation in East Rashid

Photo By Lt. Col. Brett Walker | A member of the Sons of Iraq, and Iraqi national policemen from the 2nd Battalion, 7th...... read more read more

Photo By Lt. Col. Brett Walker | A member of the Sons of Iraq, and Iraqi national policemen from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd NP Division, take time to discuss the current operational assessment, Oct. 18, 2008, during a clearance operation in the Iskhan neighborhood of southern Baghdad's Doura community. The Iraqi security force elements conducted a clearance operation in the neighborhood, which produced illegal weapons and two Explosively Formed Projectile bombs. Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, helped the NPs set up the outer perimeter during the clearance operation.  see less | View Image Page

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.18.2008

Story by Capt. Brett Walker 

1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

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By Capt. Brett Walker
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq — The Saturday sunrise revealed a tight cordon of Iraqi national police vehicles and reinforced checkpoints surrounding the neighborhood of Iskhan in the Rashid District's Doura community.

Acting on information recently acquired through detained criminals, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd NP Division, planned and executed a massive clearance operation, Oct. 18, 2008, to secure the populace of East Rashid and gather additional intelligence.

Approximately 400 national policemen searched 1,500 homes during more than five hours of intensive operations, seizing 25 weapons and capturing two wanted criminals, said Lt. Col. Mohammed Al-Na'amai, a staff officer for the 7th Bde., 2nd Iraqi NP.

The intelligence gathered by the 7th Bde., 2nd NP Div., also led to the NPs seizing a sizable cache in an adjacent neighborhood, said Maj. Mark Olin, operations officer of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, attached to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. The cache included two complete explosively formed projectile improvised-explosive devices along with the components to make several more.

MND-B Soldiers supported the mission by supplementing the cordon and pre-positioning a rapid reaction force capable of reinforcing the national police should violence erupt, said Olin.

No violence erupted, and the reinforcements were never needed, he added.

"One of the Sons of Iraq headquarters buildings was attacked [Oct. 16, 2008]," said Capt. Abdul Razak Karif Mohammed, commander of the 3rd Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd NP Division, charged with securing Iskhan. "In the attack, some national policemen were wounded, including a lieutenant. Some Sons of Iraq and Americans were also wounded."

Abdul and NPs from 7th Bde. synchronized existing intelligence and additional evidence collected on the site to locate and arrest several of the criminals responsible for the attack.

Abdul explained that the men they captured immediately following the attack divulged further information about a budding criminal cell in Iskhan.

"I have more information than anyone else in this area," boasted Abdul, who was formally recognized by the Americans last month for exceptional proficiency as a member of the Iraqi security forces.

Regardless of his wealth of knowledge and highly touted prestige in the mulhallah, this mission would require more than the number of NPs under his command.

An American-contracted cultural research team based on Forward Operating Base Falcon estimated Iskhan to consist of 1,800 buildings housing 35,000 people.

Brig. Gen. Kahrim Abud Kathim Al-Talibowi, commander of the 7th Bde., 2nd NP Div., ordered that all of the 2nd Bn. and two companies of the 1st Bn., 7th Bde., cordon off the neighborhood and search the neighborhoods.

Abdul, who occupied a position in the center of Iskhan throughout the five-and-a-half-hour clearing operation, said that his men were searching for illegal weapons, bombs, bomb-making materials, mortars and the area's most-wanted criminals.

Mohammed, whose role as the movement officer for the battalion effort, made him the mission's primary planner, clarified that the operation in Iskhan was a multi-facetted effort to strengthen their country's developing government.

"There are three main purposes for this mission," Mohammed said. "First, we are searching homes and stores for illegal weapons. Second, we are verifying home ownership to ensure that no one is illegally occupying homes. Third, we are counting the number of abandoned homes."

People were allowed to move about within the mulhallah with impunity, but they were not allowed to leave it without a plausible explanation for extenuating circumstances, he said.

NP officers stationed on the cordon made the determination if someone would be allowed to enter or exit the mulhallah. As of mission completion, none of the wanted persons were suspected of permeating the cordon.

The mission in Iskhan was supported by both the Iskhan Sons of Iraq element and the Soldiers of the 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., 4th BCT, 10th Mountain Division, from Fort Polk, La.

Mohammed explained that while no SoI were involved in entering or clearing the homes, they provided valuable assistance in manning the checkpoints incorporated in the cordon as well as roaming about the mulhallah to explain to the tenets of the cordon the purpose of the mission.

"We have a good friendship with the Sons of Iraq," Abdul said. "We need to cooperate with them; ... Our motto is 'No to sectarian violence; Yes to National Unity.'"

A minimum of two national policemen paired with at least two Iskhan SoI guarded every checkpoint in Iskhan.

The remaining Iskhan SoI spent the morning riding across the mulhallah on their bicycles explaining the details of the cordon and the NP mission.