Date : 06/11/2007
BAGHDAD, Nov 6 (KUNA) -- Rear Admiral Greg Smith, MNF-I spokesman,
announced Tuesday in a joint conference with Lt. Cmdr. Dowling, Task Force
Troy, that 5,000 weapon cahces were found in Iraq since the beginning of 2007.
Smith went on saying that in the first 10 months of 2007, caches found and
cleared by joint forces have doubled the entire volume of 2006 with the
highest concentration of caches has been found in Anbar province.
This can be attributed to the increasing effectiveness of the Iraqi forces,
and receiving tips from Iraqi citizens, the official indicated, adding the
tips led to this increase in cache finds.
He stated that Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) attacks in October were
equal to attacks in September 2004, and they have decreased by 50 percent
since the start of the surge.
"We spoke of Irans malign influence in past, since they supplied EFPs and
rockets into Iraq. However, the newest cache finds do not appear to have
arrived in Iraq after Iran made pledges to cease this weapon exportation into
Iraq," Smith said, adding "We hope to verify in the near future that Iran has
honored their pledge." While the trends in cache finds were very encouraging,
the MNF would continue to understand that there were innumerable challenges
remaining in Iraq, he affirmed.
On another issue, the MNF spokesman revealed "we will release nine
detainees to Iran since they no longer appear to be a threat and we expect
more trilateral talks shortly." (end)
mhg.gta
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