Iraqi Army Soldiers rescue local sheik

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div.,
Multi-National Division – Center PAO


RUSHDI MULLAH, Iraq — A local Sunni man who escaped his alleged al-Qaeda kidnappers arrived at an Iraqi Army checkpoint pleading for help in rescuing his brother, a local sheik, late at night June 23.
The man arrived at the check point at about 11:30 p.m. where Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division were securing the road from an improvised explosive device.
The IA Soldiers took the man to Patrol Base Shanghai, manned by Company B, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., in the village of Rushdi Mullah.
He claimed he and his brother had been captured by Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists about two weeks ago and had been tortured in a nearby house. They escaped, he said, but his brother was unable to keep up. He left the sheikh in an orchard and went to the nearest Coalition patrol base he could find. He was still in shackles when he arrived at PB Shanghai.
A combined Iraqi and U.S. patrol left the base to find the man, who was still in the orchard. The man and four Iraqi Army Soldiers found the sheik in the orchard.
The men claimed that they had been captured and tortured for cooperating with Coalition Forces and for failure to pledge allegiance to al-Qaeda. They were able to give more than 40 names of people involved in their capture and attack.
Both men had dislocated shoulders and bore other signs of torture. They were treated for their injuries at the patrol base.