Active Unit News

In the late breaking news, the killed and wounded in two separate attacks this morning were not from the 4ID. One incident involved the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the other was an MP unit in Baghdad.

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U.S. Begins Iraq Anti-Bandit Operation
By ANDREW ENGLAND
Associated Press Writer

KHALIS, Iraq (AP)--Hundreds of U.S. forces launched a series of raids Tuesday to hunt down bandits, gangsters and Saddam Hussein loyalists, capturing at least 24. Meanwhile, the number of American troops killed in postwar Iraq surpassed the toll of those killed in major combat, reaching 140 with the deaths of a soldier in a roadside bombing and another in a traffic accident. When President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, the U.S. death toll stood at 138. Since then, 140 more soldiers have died, counting both deaths announced Tuesday. The total number of U.S. soldiers killed since the Iraq war began on March 20 is 278. ``We're on the offensive against terror, and we will stay on the offensive against terror,'' Bush told an American Legion conference in St. Louis. ``We've adopted a new strategy for a new kind of war: We will not wait for known enemies to strike us again,'' he said. ``We will strike them.'' One of the soldiers killed Tuesday was riding in a support convoy hit by a bomb in the town of Hamariyah, 16 miles northwest of Baghdad, the military announced. (Ed Note: Not 4ID) Two other soldiers were wounded in that attack. The other U.S. fatality was a soldier who was struck by an Iraqi motorist while changing a flat in a convoy from Tikrit to a forward base, the military said.
In another incident, a third soldier was taken to a military hospital with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The two dozen suspected Iraqi criminals were swept up near Baqouba, 42 miles north of Baghdad, in ``Operation Ivy Needle,'' a campaign launched by the 4th Infantry Division. Hundreds of troops, backed by helicopters, tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles chased a convicted murderer and gangster named Lateef Hamed al-Kubaishat--known as Lateef by U.S. forces, said Col. David Hogg, commander of the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade. Lateef escaped capture, but the military said it caught seven men it was seeking and seized arms. A later raid on the home of a gunrunner, netted three men after troops surrounded the house. The three suspects tried to flee, with one firing a heavy machine gun, but he was wounded in the leg. ``Their primary focus is probably criminal activity, but they have attacked coalition forces through direct and indirect means,'' Hogg told The Associated Press. ``As long as he (Lateef) is in place, we will not be able to establish the conditions for the Iraqi police to establish law and order in the area.'' The gang claimed responsibility for a bomb that exploded outside police headquarters in Baqouba on Aug. 10, killing one U.S. military policeman, U.S. forces said. Lateef is also accused of selling weapons, burning down the Baqouba courthouse to destroy criminal records, and murdering a prostitute whom he accused of fraternizing with U.S. troops in the area. Lateef was imprisoned and serving multiple life sentences for murder until Saddam granted amnesty to all prisoners in October as the United States ratcheted up its case for invading Iraq, according to U.S. intelligence officers. Ivy Needle was designed to neutralize paramilitary forces, Saddam loyalists, Fedayeen Saddam militia and other subversive elements, said 4th Infantry spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle. No U.S. soldiers were reported killed or injured in the operations.They consist of ``surgical strikes on remote areas throughout the 4th ID area of responsibility, where in the past we haven't had enduring military presence,'' Aberle said. In other raids, U.S. troops detained 22 people in northern and eastern Iraq, Aberle said. Of those, two had been targeted as ex-regime loyalists, five were suspected of planning attacks against coalition forces, and 13 others were arrested for trying to loot the former Iraqi military's ammunition dumps around Tikrit. In Iraq's second holiest Shiite city, Karbala, Marine Lt. Col. Matthew Lopez handed over command to Bulgarian Lt. Col. Petko Marinov, whose 250-member force will begin patrolling the city. The Bulgarian soldiers are part of a larger, 9,500-member international force led by Poland that will try to secure the zone in south-central Iraq that has been under the control of U.S. Marines. A formal hand-over to a Polish commander for the entire zone will take place Sept. 3. Polish forces, however, have already come under attack. Several mortar shells were fired at a Polish base in Karbala on Monday night, missing their target and causing no damage or injuries, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said in Warsaw.``Those were warning shots indicating that there are still people ready to fight for Saddam Hussein's ideas,'' Szmajdzinski said.
AP-NY-08-26-03 2236EDT
Copyright 2003, The Associated Press.

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>From Central Command news release:

4ID SOLDIER DIES IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT
A 4th Infantry Division soldier died as a result of injuries sustained in a traffic accident between Tikrit and Forward Operating Base Anaconda in Balad at approximately 6:40 p.m. on Aug. 25.
The vehicle the soldier was riding in had a flat tire causing the convoy to stop along side the road to replace the flat. While changing the tire, a passing Iraqi vehicle was involved in a traffic collision, which caused it to spin out of control and strike the soldier.
The soldier was evacuated to the 21st Combat Support Hospital for treatment. The soldier died of injuries received at approximately 10 p.m.
The soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.
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I am pretty sure this is the casualty - from a DoD news release:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today that Spc. Ronald D. Allen Jr., 22, of Mitchell, Ind., died on Aug. 25 near Balad, Iraq. Allen was conducting convoy operations when he was involved in a vehicular accident. Allen died of his injuries.Allen was assigned to the 502nd Personnel Service Battalion, 43rd Area Support Group, Fort Carson, Colo. The incident is under investigation.

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