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[Where's there's one well-equipped air conditioned bucker, there are 
many more... ]

AP via Yahoo - June 4, 2005
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=1&u=/ap/20050604/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Marines Find Weapons Caches, Huge Bunker

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

Hundreds of Iraqi and U.S. troops searched fields and farms Saturday for 
insurgents and their hideouts in an area south of Baghdad known for 
attacks, and the Marines said they discovered 50 weapons and ammunition 
caches and a huge underground bunker west of the capital fitted out with 
air conditioning, a kitchen and showers.

The joint U.S.-Iraqi force operating in Latifiyah to the south was 
backed by American air power and said it had rounded up at least 108 
Iraqis, mainly Sunnis, suspected of involvement in the brutal insurgent 
campaign to topple the Shiite-led government.

To the west of the capital, the 2nd Marine division said its forces had 
discovered 50 weapons and ammunitions caches over the past four days in 
restive Anbar province. The military said the find included a recently 
used "insurgent lair" in a massive underground bunker complex that 
included air-conditioned living quarters and high tech military 
equipment, including night vision goggles.

That bunker was found cut from a rock quarry in Karmah, 50 miles west of 
Baghdad. The Marines said the facility was 170 yards wide and 275 yards 
long.

In its rooms were "four fully furnished living spaces, a kitchen with 
fresh food, two shower facilities and a working air conditioner. Other 
rooms within the complex were filled with weapons and ammunition," the 
announcement said.

The weapons included "numerous types of machine guns, ordnance, 
including mortars, rockets and artillery rounds, black uniforms, ski 
masks, compasses, log books, night vision goggles, and fully charged 
cell phones."

In Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi and American forces 
launched a raid as part of Operation Lightning, a week-old assault aimed 
at rooting out insurgents conducting raids on the capital and sapping 
militant strength nationwide. While Iraqi forces were in the forefront 
of Saturday's sweep though the semi-rural region, it was clear the U.S. 
military was still the driving force.

About two hours into the operation, for example, American forces voiced 
concern that an area covered in tall grass had not been searched. An 
Iraqi commander said he was reluctant to send his troops into the field 
for fear of an insurgent attack.

"This is a dangerous area. We need helicopters and the American army," 
Iraqi Brig. Gen. Najim al-Ekabi said.

The American soldiers, who had spent months training Iraqi soldiers, 
tried to persuade al-Ekabi to send his troops, saying it was likely that 
weapons were hidden in the fields and alongside an irrigation canal.

Army Capt. Jason Blindauer of the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division 
told al-Ekabi the force had orders to search the area. "No one is going 
to do it better than your group," Blindauer said.

Al-Ekabi asked for a private meeting with the Americans and departed 
shortly afterward in a large convoy, ostensibly to conduct the search.

Maj. Ronny Echelberger later went into the area with American forces and 
searched a few homes, saying was not been sure the Iraqi search had been 
sufficiently thorough.

The Iraqi army's reliance on U.S. troops was evident in other ways. 
Echelberger had to show an Iraqi brigade commander his location on a map 
shortly before Iraqi troops launched the operation, and a few minutes 
later Iraqi soldiers fired hundreds of rounds when they mistakenly 
thought they saw an insurgent.

"These guys are doing baptism by fire. It takes time," Blindauer said.

Operation Lightning is being watched closely as a bellwether of when 
Iraqis can take control of their own security, a key to the U.S. exit 
strategy more than two years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr has said at least 700 suspected insurgents 
have been rounded up in the sweep, which has also killed at least 28 
militants. U.S. Lt. Col. Michael Infanti said at least 221 people had 
been detained since last Wednesday by forces carrying out a sweep of 
Baghdad's southern districts. It was unclear if that number was in 
addition to the 700 given by Jabr.

Also Saturday, a suicide car bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police 
checkpoint on a main road connecting northern Mosul with the nearby city 
of Tal Afar, killing two officers and wounding four. Four others were 
hurt in a roadside bombing as they went to help their fallen colleagues, 
Mosul police Lt. Zaid Ahmed Shakir said.

An Iraqi believed to be a terror leader in the north was captured by 
U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad. He was 
identified as Mullah Mahdi and was caught along with his brother, three 
other Iraqis and a non-Iraqi Arab, Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed 
al-Obeidi said.

Mahdi was affiliated with the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, one of Iraq's most 
feared terror groups, and had links to the Syrian intelligence service, 
al-Obeidi said without elaborating. Iraqi and U.S. officials have 
accused Syria of facilitating the insurgency by allowing foreign 
fighters to cross its borders, but Damascus denies the allegation.

Mahdi was wanted in connection with car bombs, assassinations 
"beheadings of Iraqi policemen and soldiers and for launching attacks 
against multinational forces," in Mosul, al-Obeidi said.

In addition, 19 suspected insurgents — including a Jordanian and a 
Syrian — were arrested in raids in Baghdad's western Abu Ghraib 
district, Iraqi Lt. Col. Abu Fahad Alkhasali said.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press.