Golden Dragon troops find large weapons cache

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

RADWANIYAH, Iraq — A large cache of weapons was found by coalition forces near here March 22.
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) were moving as part of a security operation when they discovered two 81mm mortar tubes and a 68mm mortar rocket with an electronic launching system southwest of Radwaniyah.
Upon searching around the tubes, the Soldiers found more cache weapons hidden in two 50-gallon drums.
The first drum contained 1,500 rounds of 7.62mm machine gun ammunition, 1,000 rounds of RPK machine gun ammunition, a black load-bearing vest, an ammunition drum for a machine gun, a roll of detonation cord, 75 blasting caps, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, a grenade, a roll of electrical wire, and a mortar charge.
The second drum contained three RPG launchers, an RPG night sight, three RPG-7 rounds with accelerators, 500 rounds of PKM machine gun ammunition, five RPG-9 rounds and two unknown RPG boosters.
“This is a significant find,” said Maj. Web Wright, a spokesman for the 2nd BCT. “Taking mortar tubes out of the terrorists’ hands removes their ability to launch indirect-fire attacks. Additionally, the seizure of the detonation cord, blasting caps, and wires means that those things cannot be used in the construction of improvised explosive devices.”
The cache was destroyed by an explosive ordnance disposal team.