Iraqi boy leads troops to weapons cache

Iraqi boy leads troops to weapons cache
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
Monday, 17 September 2007

A Multi-National Division-Baghdad unit discovered a cache of explosives and improvised explosive device-making materials in a western neighborhood of the Iraqi capital following a tip from a local boy Sept. 15.

A platoon from Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment (Task Force Patriot), was conducting a census operation in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Yarmouk when an 11-year-old Iraqi boy pointed out an abandoned house and suggested that insurgents had used it as a base of operations in previous months.

The Soldiers discovered two cache sites within the house after a detailed search. The contents of the two caches included four RPG-7 rockets, nine 57mm rockets, two 82mm mortars, one 130mm artillery round, one 122mm artillery round, one block of TNT, a foot of detonation cord, 52 AK-47 magazines and an assortment of IED-detonating devices.

An explosive ordnance disposal team responded to the scene and removed the explosives for detonation later in a controlled environment.

“We’re encouraged by the fact that a tip from an Iraqi child led us to this cache,” said Capt. Jayson Morgan, commander of Battery B and a Munday, Texas native. “It’s just another sign that our efforts in this community are paying dividends.”

Morgan said he will return to the neighborhood later this week to pay the family of the young boy a reward for providing such valuable information.