By the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Public Affairs Office
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – A combined raid yielded Iraqi army and Rakkasan soldiers an improvised explosive device packed with homemade explosives and approximately 100 pounds of TNT near Namoor Sept. 16, 2008.
Soldiers from 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion, 43rd Brigade, 17th IA Division and Company B, 1st Bn., 35th Armor Regiment were conducting a raid of a suspected IED cell roughly 10 kilometers southwest of Baghdad when they discovered the explosives.
The explosives were turned over to the IA for destruction at a later date.
"In the hands of the wrong people, these materials could have resulted in tragic loss of life," said Col. Dominic Caraccilo, commander of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Div. (Air Assault). "We will continue to make every effort to keep these and other weapons out of the hand of criminals."