B*N*S*N3

Guard captures 'high-value' terror suspect in Baghdad

By American Forces Press Service

BAGHDAD, (7/14/09) - U.S. forces apprehended a wanted man suspected of being the leader of a bomb-making cell during a July 12 civil affairs mission west of Baghdad.

Civil affairs officers from C Troop, 150th Armored Reconnaissance Squadron of the West Virginia Army National Guard, went to the man's house July 12 to pay for damages to his front door caused during a previous attempt to capture the known criminal.

The man attempted to flee through a field behind his house, but surrendered to pursuing C Troop soldiers, who transferred him to Iraqi army custody, said Jason Chudy, a spokesman for the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team.

"His son yelled into the window when we arrived and he squirted out the back door," said Sgt. Christopher Cooper with C Troop. "It was great to capture a known Iraqi terrorist."

The suspected criminal admitted he is a member of an insurgency group. Iraqi soldiers had been searching for him for nearly a week, Chudy said.

Soldiers transferred the man into the custody of the 17th Iraqi Army Division.

"He was listed ninth on the [battalion's] Iraqi high-value target list, and there was a terrorist warrant for his arrest here in Iraq," said Army 2nd Lt. Jason Hickman, a C Troop platoon leader.

The man also is one of the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team's "most wanted." The 30th HBCT is the parent brigade to the 150th Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, and is made up of National Guardsmen from North Carolina, West Virginia and Colorado. C Troop is based in Glen Jean, W.Va. (here)