A cloud of smoke and dust envelopes U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Mullahy seconds after he fired an AT-4 rocket launcher at an insurgent position during a firefight in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood Saturday which ended with one insurgent dead and three captured. Mullahy is a squad leader with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Pryor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs.

BAGHDAD

The 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division launched the offensive with a quick-strike night air assault early Tuesday morning.

“The end state is to destroy the al-Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general of operations for the 25th Infantry Division. “That is the number one, bottom-line, up-front, in-your-face task and purpose.”

About 10,000 Soldiers, with a full complement of attack helicopters, close-air support, Strykers and Bradley fighting vehicles, are taking part in Arrowhead Ripper, which is still in its opening stages. Elements of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division; the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade are also participating in the operation.

“One of the keys as we initiate combat actions and operations here is the newly formed Diyala Operations Center,” Bednarek said. “It serves as an integration center that will coordinate all activities in Diyala (including) the police, the Army and Coalition forces from Task Force Lightning.”

In a separate operation south of Baghdad Tuesday, Coalition forces raided a series of buildings targeting associates of an al-Qaeda emir in the area. As ground forces approached the buildings, a man ran out of the house and rushed toward Coalition forces, ignoring instructions to stop.

Coalition forces, reacting to the perceived hostile threat, shot and killed the man. Inside the building, Coalition forces detained a suspected terrorist with ties to the targeted emir, military officials said.

Additionally, Coalition forces captured a suspected associate of senior al-Qaeda leaders in the Iraqi capital Tuesday, and detained three suspects with ties to terrorist leaders. Troops also found a small weapons cache.

In Anbar province, two separate Coalition operations Tuesday netted six suspected terrorists associated with senior al-Qaeda leaders, officials said.

Troops nabbed three individuals south of Fallujah for their alleged involvement in planting improvised explosive devices and organizing terrorist groups in the area. Forces detained three suspects with ties to terrorist leaders west of Tarmiyah.

The operations Coalition forces conduct continue to eliminate terrorist forces in order to build a stable and safe Iraq.

(U.S. Army story compiled from Multi-National Force-Iraq and Multi-National Corps-Iraq news releases)
 

In other developments throughout Iraq:

• Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment “Polar Bears,” 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) provided on-the-spot medical care for the citizens at the local school in Mullah Fayad, Friday.  

• Soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army engaged and killed four extremist gunmen during two separate engagements in the city of Baqouba Monday.