Monday, March 05, 2007

Golden Dragons discover six more caches in operation

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn.
Div. (LI) Public Affairs


YUSUFIYAH, Iraq - Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers continue to find weapons caches along Mullah Fayad Highway during an ongoing operation southwest of Baghdad, Feb. 28.
As reported earlier, Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) found a massive cache along the highway as part of Operation Commando Viper, an operation intended to deny terrorists' freedom of movement in southwest Baghdad.
After continuing to scour the area, the 'Golden Dragons' found an additional six caches along the highway, just west of Yusufiyah, March 1.
The first cache consisted of 12 mortar warheads, 28 tear gas grenades, 150 cassette tapes, a 200 round ammunition drum, 20 feet of wire, 29 mortar charges, three rocket propelled grenade sights, a rifle scope, an AK-47 magazine, four chest-rigged AK-47 kits, four small cloth bags of gun powder, 250 loose 7.62mm rounds, a battery charger, an alternating current adapter, three rifle slings, and various bomb making materials.
The second cache, smaller than the first, included 22 rocket propelled grenade rounds, 300 feet of detention cord, a 62mm high-explosive anti-tank rounds and a 106mm anti-tank round.
The third cache had two unknown aiming tools, three AK-47 magazines (two full and one empty), 100 7.62mm rounds, a box containing 1,000 7.62mm rounds, 11 cloth bags filled with gun powder, 20 feet of time fuse, 20 feet of detonation cord, two RPG-7 rounds, 10 blasting caps, a 57mm warhead, an AK-47, a bottle of unknown liquid, a spotting scope, four cell phones, two mortar sights, an RPG sight, an unknown electronic site, various digital and paper archival equipment, and initiators for improvised explosive devices.
In the fourth cache were four RPG-7 rounds, 22 81mm warhead rounds, 39 60mm warhead rounds, 25 mortar charges, an 81mm mortar round, three high-explosive assembled warhead rounds, two RPG-9 rounds, 55 various grenades, 16 blasting caps, five AK-47 chest kits, six AK-47 magazines, a set of binoculars, an RPG sight box, a machine gun rod, an unknown aiming device, a mortar sight and a test light.
The fifth cache had three AK-47 magazines, a two-way radio, a plastic grenade, 300 7.62mm rounds, a spool of wire, a camera bag, a tripod, a hand drill and an improvised explosive device kit.
The last cache included five RPG-9 rounds, two 81mm mortar rounds, three blasting caps, a mortar site, a warhead, a homemade rocket launcher, 22 boxes of mortar charges, an 81mm warhead, two 60mm warheads, a ammunition can, 20 feet of detonation cord, a set of binoculars and a cell phone battery.
"The Soldiers of 2-14 are putting a huge dent in the terrorists' capabilities," said Maj. Brock Jones, the 2-14 Inf. executive officer and native of Lakewood, Ohio. "Each large caliber round is one less (improvised explosive device) the enemy can emplace."
The Soldiers will continue to search the area in hopes of finding more caches.
An explosive ordnance detonation team destroyed the contents of the caches and the operation is still ongoing.

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