By 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – Iraqi army soldiers found a large munitions cache inside a truck in Hashmiyah, Iraq, March 30.
The cache contained 23 anti-tank mines, three crates of approximately 40 pounds of explosives, three crates of pellet shaped explosives, 15 81 mm mortars, two 120 mm mortars, 1,500 DSHKA rounds, one can of 120 mm mortar fuses, 10 explosively formed projectile housings, 10 EFP discs ranging from 4 to 12 inches, one complete EFP - 6 inches in diameter - and three grain bags full of EFP rings, tubes and back covers.
The IA discovered the cache during intelligence driven raids and searches throughout the day, said 1st Lt. Ryan Lawson, leadership engagement team leader and personal security detachment platoon leader with the 31st Military Transition Team, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. The intelligence led them to the area, though not specifically to the cache.
"It is a big find for the IA," Lawson said. "They have continued for the past five to seven days going after (criminals) quite intensively and this is the culmination of what they've been doing, and I think it's really going to set (criminals) back in the Hillah and Hashmiyah areas for quite awhile."