U.S and Iraqi Troops Kill Six Special Groups IED Placers In Baghdad Area

Excellent news as Coalition troops in several different actions, killed six special groups jihadists that were in the process of placing IED's. Here's the detail from MNF:

Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers disrupted efforts by Special Groups criminals to emplace improvised explosive devices, killing six and wounded another during a joint operation in the New Baghdad security district of eastern Baghdad, June 20. A group of suspected criminals were seen observing U.S. Soldiers in Shawra Wa Um Jidir, at approximately 7:45 a.m. They pointed at the Soldiers continuously and began using cell phones. Then, one of the men ran into a building and returned with an AK-47 rifle, which he aimed at the Soldiers. The Soldiers engaged the suspect, killing him and one of his cohorts. About 35 minutes later, the Soldiers spotted three additional criminals engaged in suspicious activity. The Soldiers engaged and killed one of the men as he attempted to emplace an improvised explosive device. Soldiers at the same location killed another criminal emplacing an IED approximately two hours later. Just after 10:30 a.m., two Special Group criminals attempted to retrieve one of the IEDs. U.S. Soldiers killed one of them and wounded the other. Another criminal was observed digging a hole to emplace an IED when Soldiers engaged and killed him at approximately 1 p.m.

I thought that an interesting bit of information in this report was that two of the special groups (Mahdi Army) jihadists were trying to RETRIEVE one of the IEDs. In other words, they suspected that the placement of the IED had been seen and they didn't want to lose it. Hmm...is the supply of those IED's getting tight? Is there a shortage of IED manufacture expertise? Maybe I'm reading too much into that but it would be encouraging to see these asshats running low on the lethal weapon.

MND-B Soldiers prevent Special Group criminals from emplacing IEDs, kill six

Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers disrupted efforts by Special Groups criminals to emplace improvised explosive devices, killing six and wounded another during a joint operation in the New Baghdad security district of eastern Baghdad, June 20. A group of suspected criminals were seen observing U.S. Soldiers in Shawra Wa Um Jidir, at approximately 7:45 a.m. They pointed at the Soldiers continuously and began using cell phones. Then, one of the men ran into a building and returned with an AK-47 rifle, which he aimed at the Soldiers. The Soldiers engaged the suspect, killing him and one of his cohorts. About 35 minutes later, the Soldiers spotted three additional criminals engaged in suspicious activity. The Soldiers engaged and killed one of the men as he attempted to emplace an improvised explosive device. Soldiers at the same location killed another criminal emplacing an IED approximately two hours later. Just after 10:30 a.m., two Special Group criminals attempted to retrieve one of the IEDs. U.S. Soldiers killed one of them and wounded the other. Another criminal was observed digging a hole to emplace an IED when Soldiers engaged and killed him at approximately 1 p.m. “Neither we nor our Iraqi partners will tolerate attempts by these criminals to inflict indiscriminate violence through the use of IEDs or other means,” said Maj. Joey Sullinger, spokesperson for 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. “These Special Group criminals who do not lay down their arms and embrace Iraq’s peaceful and prosperous future will be pursued, captured or killed.”

Iraqi Army and U.S. Forces Seal Iranian Border, Begin The Gutting Of Maysan

This is a pretty exciting operation that just started today in Iraq. Maysan province and it's capital city of Amarah are where it is suspected a bunch of Mahdi Army commanders retreated to when the IA and U.S. forces put a hurt on the Mahdis in Sadr City. Maysan is also a breeding ground for the special groups trained by the Iranians. One of the keys here is this, the Coalition has sealed off the Iranian border at Al Sheeb so these pukes are now bottled up in Amarah and surrounding areas and there ain't no place to run!

Here's a bit from the article by Bill Roggio over at The Long War Journal:

Maysan province is a strategic link for the Ramazan Corps, the Iranian military command set up by Qods Force to direct operations inside Iraq. Amarah serves as the Qods Force / Ramazan Corps forward command and control center inside Iraq as well as one of the major distribution points for weapons in southern Iraq.
The Iraqi security forces have stepped up operations against the Ramazan Corps and the Mahdi Army in the southern provinces over the past several months. Operation Knights' Assault was launched against the Mahdi Army in Basrah on March 25. After six days of heavy fighting, the Mahdi Army pushed for a ceasefire. The Iraqi security forces also dealt the Mahdi Army a heavy blow in the southern provinces of Najaf, Karbala, Qassadiyah, Maysan, and Wasit.

Not only would this operation clean up Maysan province but it may be the final gutting of any substantial Iranian backed forces in Iraq. Iran right now is full of Mahdi and Ramazan commanders who have fled Iraq with their tails between their legs. And now, with the Iranian border sealed, hopefully these POS will all be killed or surrender (and sing like canaries).

Iraqi offensive underway against the Mahdi Army in Maysan

Iraqi security forces, backed by the US military, have started an operation against the Mahdi Army in the southern border province of Maysan. Amarah, the provincial capital of Maysan, is thought to be one of the locations senior Mahdi Army leader retreated to after Iraqi forces moved into Sadr City last month. Amarah is also a forward command and control hub for Iranian operations in southern Iraq.
Iraqi security forces established checkpoints along the entrances to the province, and have closed down the border crossing to Iran at Al Sheeb, Voices of Iraq reported. Iraqi forces are also patrolling inside Amarah. "Joint patrol vehicles have also been deployed in downtown Amarah city, particularly in the areas of Hitteen, Al Urouba, Maghraba and Al Batira Street," a security source told Voices of Iraq.
The final preparations for operation started late last week as Iraqi forces began amassing at the airport north of Amarah, and set up positions along the major roads leading into the province. Units from Basrah and Baghdad were moved into Maysan to conduct the operation.
The operation began early Saturday after helicopters dropped leaflets in Amarah warning the residents to stay indoors, cooperate with security forces, and provide information on wanted suspects. Leaflets with photographs of wanted Mahdi Army leaders and “wanted persons who have been charged with murder, kidnap and robbery.”
There have been no reports of major clashes or the detention of high value targets. Some of the Mahdi Army leaders in Amarah are believed to have fled into Iran, where Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, resides.

The Iraqi security forces and the US military also confronted the Mahdi Army in Sadr City in Baghdad. After six weeks of heavy fighting, the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi government signed a ceasefire that allowed the military to enter Sadr City uncontested.
During the month of May, the Iraqi security forces expanded operations throughout Basrah province in Az Zubayr, Al Qurnah, and Abu Al Khasib along the Iranian border. This week, an operation kicked off in Dhi Qhar province, which borders Maysan to the southeast.

U.S. Troops Kill 10 Militia Special Groups Jihadists In E. Baghdad

Great job for the U.S. troops on this one and quite frankly, I can't wait to get the video on how this one came down. It appears that 10 special groups militiamen (more than likely Mahdi Army) got caught doing some IED emplacement in east Baghdad and were targeted for an early morning raid by U.S. troops and well, those 10 aren't going to be doing anything, anymore. That story is here from Australian Broadcasting Company and here's a bit of it:

US troops have killed 10 militiamen who were planting roadside bombs in eastern Baghdad, just outside the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, the US military said.
"Coalition forces killed 10 special group extremists ... in Baghdad after positively identifying [that] they were conducting militant activities, primarily Improvised Explosive Device emplacement," a statement said.

The disturbing part of this is that we are still seeing this type of IED emplacement inside the metro area of Baghdad where there could really be some significant damage done to U.S. troops. At the same time, most of Baghdad has been fairly quiet lately so the U.S. command can really focus on the main problem which of course is the Sadr City grid.

What I'd like to know about this story is whether the info on these 10 asshats came in from a tip from local residents or not.

US troops kill 10 Baghdad militiamen

The US military has coined the term "special groups" to describe gunmen it says are trained by Iranians to direct attacks against US-led troops and incite sectarian violence in Iraq. Iran consistently denies any involvement.
The Americans first claimed the victims were killed in an operation planned and led by Iraqi troops, but later said coalition forces carried out the pre-dawn attack, which also left one militia member wounded.
Meanwhile, in Sadr City itself, Iraqi troops have seized a large quantity of weapons, explosives and ammunition during the past eight days, the US military added.
Authorities discovered 88 roadside bombs, 201 rocket propelled grenades, 34 artillery rounds, 18 tank rounds, 144 mortar rounds and 107 anti-tank mines.
Fighters from radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army fought deadly street battles with US forces in Sadr City for seven weeks until a May 10 truce deal between Sadr and the Government took effect.
The US troops have kept up attacks against the so-called "special groups," including in Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad.
Iraqi security officials said three more people were killed and five wounded yesterday in two separate roadside bomb attacks in the Diyala province, north-east of Baghdad.

Document Leaked: Iran Paid Iraq's Mahdi Army To Kill British Troops In Basra

It really would take me a MONTH of Sundays to list all of the reasons why the world would be justified in wiping the Iranian nation off the face of the Earth and now we have Reason #374 where documents have been leaked that show how Iranian funding was used by the Iraqi Mahdi Army to recruit and train fighters to kill British troops in Basra. Here's the details from the report at the Telegraph:

Iran has secretly paid Iraqi insurgents hundreds of thousands of American dollars to kill British soldiers, according to a leaked government document obtained by The Telegraph.
The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time.
The document states that the Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) – also known as the Mahdi Army – one of the most violent insurgent groups operating in Basra, used money from Iran to recruit and pay young unemployed men up to $300 (£150) a month to carry out attacks against the British. The findings have been passed to the highest levels in the military.

Now, we could discuss how the Brits have been slapped around by the Iranians for three years now, or we could talk about how Iran will deny this report along with the hundreds of other ones that have them dead to rights, but I want to point out something else - that the Iranians are a race of people with no back bone. Yes, the Persians are simply gutless cowards.

Ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran took place (thanks a bunch Jimmy Carter), the Persians have been intent on molding world opinion, world events and world behavior to suit their radical violent political ideology but unlike their predecessors, the Nazis or the Maoist or the Stalinists, the Iranians have hired others to do their dirty work. The Iranians hate Israel so they set up Hamas and Hezbollah to do their dirty work. The Iranians wanted to control Lebanon so they had Syria assassinate most of the upper echelon of Lebanon's governmental leadership. The list goes on and on.

The sissified Persians have only had one war in recent history in which they actually took up weapons themselves and fought an enemy - the war with Iraq - and they nearly got their asses handed to them. And in that war, the Persians were fighting their Shia brethren.

My point is this: it is high time the world puts an end to this yellow belly regime's use of hired guns around the world. It's way past due that the Persians are called on the carpet for their use of violence in the name of allah. And it is long overdue that this country, this cesspool of hate and perversion be wiped off the map. You can justify it by their development of nukes or now you can simply post a picture of a British soldier killed in Basra, but either way they deserve to breathe their last.

Iran 'paid Iraq insurgents to kill UK soldiers'

The leak comes at a time of rising tension between Iran and the international community, as Tehran continues to stonewall UN inquiries into allegations that it has carried out research to develop a nuclear weapon.
The report, "Life Under Fire in the Old State Building", details the activities of British troops under the command of Major Christopher Job, of the 2nd Lancashire Regiment, between November 2006 and March 2007.
In the report, Major Job discloses that in the course of five months his base was attacked 350 times. Old State Building, which is in the centre of Basra, is the most-attacked British base in recent history.
In an attempt to discover who was behind the attacks, the officer says he established a network of informers, who supplied him with detailed intelligence on the actions of the insurgents and who was behind their funding.
The officer states that the reports of Iran's involvement came from a network of 25 sources, which included a former Iraqi army general, prominent businessmen, local sheikhs and council leaders.
He writes: "We learnt from a number of our Key Leadership Engagements [local contacts] that the source of the problem was the level of unemployment in Basra.
"JAM, using funding from Iran, paid the unemployed youths in the region of $300 per month to attack Multi National Forces. We also learnt that JAM had a drugs culture and that youths literally got hooked on being associated with JAM."
Twenty-seven members of the Armed Forces died and dozens were seriously injured in southern Iraq between November 2006 and May 2007, the period that Major Job covers in his report.
A senior British officer who has recently returned from southern Iraq said that the existence of "Iranian finance teams" in Basra was widely known by the British military and Foreign Office, although always officially denied.
He said: "It suited Iran to arm JAM in order to allow them to have the means to hit us."
Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and a former infantry commander said: "This report makes it quite clear that Iran is directly involved in funding the insurgency."
He added: "The Government must confront Tehran over the deaths of British troops – anything else is appeasement."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "There is evidence to suggest a malign influence in Iraq by Iran, including the supply of equipment and armaments which are used by insurgents against UK forces in Iraq.

Mahdi Army Commander Confirmed Killed In U.S. Missile Strike In Baghdad's Sadr City

Great, great news! The U.S., a couple of weeks ago, lit up the skies of Sadr City with a guided missile strike against a command center for the Mahdi Army and in that attack, it is now confirmed that one of the dead is senior commander for the Mahdi Army, Arkan Hasnawi. And believe me, this guy was worth the effort. Take a look at some of the bad shit this dude had overseen in all of Iraq - this is from the great article over here at The Long War Journal:

Arkan Hasnawi was a brigade commander in Sadr's Mahdi Army. He fought against US and Iraqi forces in Najaf in 2003 and 2004 and has been linked to multiple attacks on US and Iraq security forces in Baghdad. He runs a network of Mahdi Army fighters in the Sha'ab neighborhood, just east of Sadr City. The US military and Iraqi security forces fought pitched battles against the Hasnawi network in February, and killed a senior lieutenant of Hasnawi and scores of fighters in the organization.
Hasnawi was behind the kidnapping of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in Diyala province in October 2007. His network was also behind the kidnapping of six Sons of Iraq from a checkpoint in Baghdad’s Ur neighborhood on Feb. 7.

The part of this guided missile attack that killed way more than just Hasnawi was this: the Mahdi Army had purposely placed their command center in Sadr City RIGHT NEXT TO a Sadr City HOSPITAL. Apparently they were adopting the Hamas and Hezbollah technique of cowering in the shadows of civilians figuring they won't be attacked - this time they guessed wrong and the U.S. guided missile hit the mark and left the hospital untouched.

By the way, that command center was hit by the missile on May 3rd...wasn't it the day afterwards that the Mahdi Army decided to stand down on their attacks? Interesting how that works, isn't it?

How many times do I have to say it? These peons know only death - how to dish it out and the only thing that stops them is to kill them first. Good job guys on this kill. Outstanding.

US military killed Mahdi Army commander Arkan Hasnawi in May 3 strike

The US military killed a senior member of the Mahdi Army, according US and Mahdi Army sources. Arkan Hasnawi, a senior lieutenant of the Mahdi Army commander in Sadr City, was killed in a guided rocket strike in Sadr City on March 3. The news of Hasnawi's death comes as details emerge on the senior leadership of the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and the blurring of the lines between Sadr's militia and the Special Groups.
Hasnawi was among several senior Mahdi Army leaders killed or wounded in the GLMRS strike on a Mahdi Army command and control center that was placed next to the Sadr Hospital inside Sadr City, according to a report in The Washington Post. The command and control center, called "Tahseen's trailer" by US troops after Tahseen al Freiji, the senior Mahdi Army commander in Sadr City, was used to direct Mahdi Army operations during the fighting from late March to mid May.

Hasnawi was one of hundreds of Mahdi Army operatives killed in the fighting inside Sadr City from March 25 until the cease-fire with the Mahdi Army took place on May 10.
The US military estimates more than 700 Mahdi Army fighters were killed. "It is pretty safe to say that we have killed the equivalent of a U.S. battalion," Colonel John Hort, the commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division told The New York Times.
A Mahdi Army commander put the number closer to 1,000 killed over the past six weeks. "A thousand martyrs, what did they die for?" the commander said.
Number compiled by The Long War Journal showed 600 Mahdi Army fighters were killed in an around Sadr City since the fighting broke out on March 25.

Mookie Blinks - Extends Cease Fire In Iraq

Yup, the once feared Mahdi mullah, Muqtada al Sadr, blinked at possible attacks from U.S. and IA forces and extended the cease fire of his Mahdi militias for another six months. This clown knows he has no pull, no back up and no balls. He's a non-entity.
Hell, Mookie has spent more time in the past year in Iran than in Iraq and his stock as some sort of religious leader in Iraq has fizzled. The Iraqi people know this asshat sold his soul to the Iranians and is trying to prop himself up as some sort of puppet in case the Iranians should get a stronghold in Iraq.
Anyway, he bought his measly troops another six months of life. They outta thank Mookie.

Here's the full story from The Long War Journal.

Report: Sadr to extend cease-fire

Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement and the commander of the Mahdi Army, has ordered the extension of the cease-fire, anonymous senior officials in his movement have told Reuters. The cease-fire, which was put in place after a major clash in Najaf in August 2007, will be extended by six months.
"Sadr had issued a declaration to preachers to be read during midday prayers on Friday at mosques affiliated with the cleric," Reuters reported. "The general idea is that there will be an extension," an unnamed senior official in Sadr's movement in Baghdad told the news agency. "Sayed (Sadr) has distributed sealed envelopes to the imams of the mosques to be read tomorrow. They cannot be opened before tomorrow." Another senior official in Najaf said the cease-fire would be extended by six months.
Pressure on Sadr
Multinational Forces Iraq and the Iraqi government have conducted a concerted campaign to pressure Sadr to order his Mahdi Army to end the fighting, extend the cease-fire, and rejoin the political process. Multinational Forces Iraq began associating the actions of the Iranian-backed Special Groups terror cells with the Mahdi Army during the summer of 2007, and have executed numerous raids against the Special Groups in central and southern Iraq. At the same time, the Iraqi military began targeting Mahdi Army in the southern cities of Samawah, Al Kut, Diwaniyah, and Basrah.
Reporting on activities against the Special Groups and the Mahdi Army went fallow in January 2008, but US and Iraqi security forces began stepping up operations against the Special Groups in early February. Over the course of one week in mid-February, and average of three to four raids a day were conducted against Special Groups. The Iraqi government has also taken legal action against members of the Mahdi Army accused of using the Health Ministry to conduct sectarian kidnappings and murders.
US and Iraqi efforts to pressure Sadr to extend the cease-fire appears to have paid off. Sadr was due to make a decision on the truce extension on Feb. 23. Several senior Sadrist leaders and Mahdi Army commanders have lobbied to end the cease-fire due to Iraqi and US military pressure on the Mahdi Army and the Sadrist movement.