Tip Leads Coalition Troops to Explosives Factory

A Soldier from 1st Platoon, Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., holds up a 12-inch copper plate (the largest size found in Iraq) used to pierce armored vehicles when fired from an explosively formed projectile (EFP). The plate was part of a large EFP cache recently discovered in a home in Husseiniyah. Photo by SSgt. Russell Bassett, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Concerned Local Citizen Tip Leads Coalition Troops to Explosives Factory
(Story by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division)
BAGHDAD
A Concerned Local Citizen (CLC) led Coalition forces to a home Wednesday where explosively formed penetrators (EFP) and improvised explosive devices (IED) were being constructed in Husseiniyah.
Soldiers of Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., discovered a large cache of explosives at the home, including (10) fully-assembled EFP of various sizes (including one 12-inch EFP, the largest size found in Iraq) and (89) copper plates of various sizes used in making EFP. Also, more than (200) pounds of C-4 explosive, other explosive materials including TNT, and numerous other materials used in manufacturing EFP were found.

“We are getting these weapons off the street, which feels great,” said Sgt. Damon Farmer, team leader with 1st Platoon, Battery A, 2-12 FA, who was one of the Soldiers who first discovered a buried container filled with explosives in an outbuilding by the home. “That stuff isn’t going to blow up my truck. It isn’t going to kill U.S. Soldiers and it isn’t going to kill Iraqis.”

EFP are one of the enemies’ most dangerous weapons, because they are able to pierce armored vehicles. According to 4-2 SBCT officials, the EFP are effective approximately 50 percent of the time, a much higher percentage than the enemy’s other weapons. The EFP is a favored weapon of anti-Coalition Shia militias.

“In our area of operations the EFP threat is significant, and there was enough material there to make (100) EFP, so we may have saved approximately 50 lives and eliminated about two months of (enemy) militia activity,” said Lt. Col John Drago, 2-12 FA commander, noting that the discovery would not have been possible without Iraqi help.