A Soldier with B Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment secures a house in the western outskirts of Baqubah, Iraq. Coalition Soldiers continue to clear the city of Baqubah in a major offensive known as Arrowhead Ripper, launched on the city and its outskirts June 18. Arrowhead Ripper aims to kill or capture all insurgents in Baqubah by sealing off the city and any avenues of escape. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Antonieta Rico, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, discovered and disabled five vehicles being prepared as car bombs and caches containing pipe bombs, sniper rifles, and other explosives and bomb-making materials.

During another joint operation in western Baqubah, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, and Iraqi forces disabled three IEDs and discovered a cache of small arms. Also included in this discovery was an al-Qaeda safe house containing a large amount of medical supplies and equipment. The medical supplies taken from this safe house were distributed to the local civilian population.

“In western Baqubah, Arrowhead Ripper has met our initial tactical objectives and then some,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commander for operations for Task Force Lightning and Multi-National Division-North. “Not only have we cleared out the active al Qaeda operatives in the western part of the city, but more importantly started to return fundamental life and normalcy to the citizens in that part of the city -- food, water, fuel -- those things that are essential to the trust and confidence of the people in their government.”

Iraqi and Coalition Soldiers continue to conduct successful engagements throughout the capital denying al-Qaeda operatives resources and safe havens.

In the Baqubah’s Buhriz neighborhood, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment, and Iraqi Soldiers, engaged and killed five terrorists who had launched a mortar attack from nearby palm groves. Local citizens provided accurate information to the joint forces enabling the successful engagement.

In a separate engagement in old Baqubah, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, detained 34 suspected terrorists after following tips from local citizens.

“The true measure of success is in talking to the Iraqis who are starting to return to a sense of normalcy in western Baqubah,” Bednarek said. “The fact that you have people coming out of their houses, starting to walk to the markets, (talking) with each other, riding bicycles, playing soccer in the streets, allowing the return of fundamental goods and services.”

Since the beginning of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, at least 60 al-Qaeda operatives have been killed, 215 have been detained, 55 weapons caches have been discovered, 124 improvised explosive devices have been destroyed, and 24 booby-trapped structures have been destroyed.

(Compiled from a Multi-National Corps-Iraq news release)

In other developments throughout Iraq:

•           Task Force Marne Soldiers teamed with Iraqi Security Forces to provide security for Iraqi school children during Operation Safe Teach July 7 in Jisr Diyala.

•           Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers, in conjunction with the Iraqi Army, conducted a two-day clearing operation in western Baghdad last week.