Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342

www.mnc-i.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20090210-03
Feb. 10, 2009

Ghost town receives new life
Multi-National Division – North PAO

TIKRIT, Iraq – There are no children playing outside, no animals, no clothing lines hung or even a whisper of voices to acknowledge any sign of life in Amugaten. Only the sound of the whistling wind blowing clouds of dust and dead wood brush down the empty streets. Amugaten would almost seem like a ghost town, except that people do live there.

But there is a reason for the stillness; the village is plagued with improvised explosive devices. Sprayed on the side of a wall in white paint lettering, both in Arabic and in English, “bombs inside” sends a clear message to anyone passing through the village of Amugaten.

No longer wanting to remain in the shadows of impending IED threats, the people are starting to take a stand and want to bring life back into their community.

Amugaten is slowly becoming a safer place to live, thanks to the joint efforts of 3rd and 4th Battalion, 18th Iraqi Army Brigade, in conjunction with 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – North.

By request of village residents, IA and U.S. Forces conducted a joint mission called Operation Automatic Pursuit II, to rid the town of several known house-borne IED’s which threaten people in the area.

“We’re trying to clear out the (al Qaida in Iraq) cells,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Wayne La Clair, 2nd Bn., 8th FA Reg. “We hit another location during Operation Automatic Pursuit I, and we believe the insurgents who are left have moved into this town.

In order to remove the HBIED threats in the village, IA cleared the entire village, going from house to house to ensure the villagers were moved to a safe location.

“We’ve had a lot of trouble getting clearance to both of these locations,” La Clair stated. “It has literally taken several months, so we’re going to go ahead and blow these two sites so they are no longer a threat to the local people.

“We have several joint forces working together on this mission,” La Clair said. “It is a pretty complicated mission because we have guys on the ground and guys in the air for support. When U.S. forces came here in 2007, literally some of these towns were completely rigged HBIEDs. Sometimes there would be ten or 20 structures, and each one of them would be rigged with IEDs.”

After blowing the two sites the U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Mobile Unit 1, checked each location and cleared them to ensure no more munitions remained in the area.

“Until now, this village has been a very dangerous village,” said Staff Col. Alaa’, commander, 3rd Bn., 18th Bde., IA. “As we went through here, the people asked us to stay and to provide security for their village.”

In order to facilitate the safe keeping of the Amugaten, Alaa’ said IA will maintain a strong presence in the village by constructing a new headquarters there and setting up various check points leading up to the village.

“There has been no IA presence in this area,” Alaa’ said. “We held a meeting with the local people and have decided to keep IA troops here and they have agreed to help us by giving us information. With IA remaining in the area, there will be no more terrorism around.”

After receiving an all clear sign from Navy EOD, some residents began to return to their homes. With IA remaining in the area, hopefully, the people will begin to feel safe again.

-30-

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT THE MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION – NORTH PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE AT: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it OR DSN 318-856-0218.

FOR THIS PRESS RELEASE AND OTHERS, VISIT WWW.MNC-I.COM

FOR HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS, PLEASE CONTACT THE DIGITAL VIDEO AND IMAGERY DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM BY CALLING (678) 421-6612 OR ACCESS THEM ON-LINE AT WWW.DVIDSHUB.NET <FILE://WWW.DVIDSHUB.NET>.