For the first time, the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi Police worked together on a large-scale operation to search for insurgents who attacked an Iraqi Police traffic control point July 15. The attack killed one Iraqi Police officer and wounded two others, said Capt. Dan Gelderman, the Iraqi National Guard advisor for the 1st Cavalry Division’s 5th Brigade Combat Team.

“The mission was put together to show the neighborhood’s residents know the [Iraqi Police] are still here and working,” Gelderman said.

About 90 Iraqi National Guard soldiers from the 304th Battalion cordoned off a large area of an Al Rashid neighborhood while almost 300 Iraqi Police officers searched for the insurgents.

The Iraqi National Guard ran several temporary traffic control points along a major road in the area to make sure the neighborhood search went undisturbed while the Iraqi Police searched the homes. Several illegal weapons were seized by the Iraqi Police during the operation.

While they’ve worked together in the past, this was the first

time they have worked together in a large operation, Gelderman said.

“I believe today’s mission was an extremely important victory in the push to make (Iraqi Security Forces) a legitimate team,” Gelderman said.

The other two services of the Iraqi Security Forces are the Facility Protection Service and the Iraqi Intervention Force.