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Friday, January 11, 2008

Good News from Iraq: 11 Jan 2008

From MNF-I, Iraqi Police Help Secure Homes of Displaced Citizens.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Members of the Narhwan emergency response team (ERT), specially trained police officers from Narhwan and Al-Ma’amil, cleared homes in the abandoned town of Sha Buu’t, Jan. 3. Scouts from Troop B, 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery, provided security for the operation. Iraqi policemen, accompanied by the 59th Military Police Company, from Fort Carson, Colo., searched the houses for insurgents and weapons caches.

Lt. Col. Mark Sullivan, from Huntsville, Ala., commander of the 1-10th FA estimated more than 1,500 citizens in small villages around Narhwan have been displaced by insurgents operating in the area.

“They are all very anxious to return to their homes,” Sullivan said. “Five hundred people were displaced from Sha Buu’t and about 1,000 more were displaced from Khazaliyah, a short distance from here. We are going to help them return, but it will be a very deliberate process. We are going to make sure it is done right and everything is secure for them to return.”

Sheik Hussein, leader of the Concerned Local Citizens (CLC) group in Khazaliyah, was on hand with his CLCs to witness the operation and receive building supplies to construct checkpoints.

“Today was an operation to clear this entire area and eliminate any caches so the Concerned Local Citizens can set up their checkpoints,” said 1st Lt. Darrell Jones, from Allen, Texas, a platoon leader in the 59th MP Co. “The Concerned Local Citizens will occupy and hold these areas after we sweep them.” ...

Read the rest here.