1st Marine Division Supports Iraqi Security Forces Raids
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2004 - Iraqi security forces, supported by Marines and
soldiers from the 1st Marine Division began a series of raids on seven mosques
in Ramadi today.
"Our participation in these raids has been limited to supporting Iraqi security
forces," emphasized Brig. Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, assistant division commander,
as quoted in a Multinational Force Iraq news release.
The mosques are believed to be centers for a spectrum of insurgent activity,
including harboring known terrorists, storing illegal weapons, promoting
violence against the Iraqi people and encouraging insurgent recruitment.
The raids are an effort to search the mosques for known terrorists and
insurgents – already known to take advantage of mosques' protected status – as
well as for illegal weapons and insurgent propaganda, officials said.
An Oct. 11 incident is the latest in a rash of instances involving anti-Iraq
forces operating in and around a mosque. At about 4 p.m., U.S. Marines and
Iraqi National Guard members began receiving small-arms fire from the Sharqi
Mosque in Hit.
Insurgents fired accurate and sustained small-arms fire that escalated to heavy
machine-gun and indirect fire during the three-hour firefight at the mosque,
officials said. Marines returned the small-arms and machine-gun fire until
insurgents began firing mortars. At that time, Marine aviation was used to
deliver precision-guided munitions to target the threat, officials said.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
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