Dragoons catch suspect linked to May abductions

Company E, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment soldiers raid a house in Al Hadar, Baghdad, in search of alleged al-Qaida in Iraq member Abu Raquyyah early Monday morning.


Dragoons catch suspect linked to May abductions
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, November 29, 2007

BAGHDAD — A raid by 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment soldiers netted an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq operative who soldiers said was linked to the May 12 abduction of three 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division soldiers.

The three were taken in an attack that killed four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier. The body of one of the missing soldiers, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., was discovered in the Euphrates River in late May but the Army is still searching for the other two soldiers — Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.

Dragoons from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s Company E, 2nd Squadron, raided several houses in Baghdad’s Hadar neighborhood early Monday morning after a tip that Abu Raquyyah was in one of them.

Raquyyah is linked to an al-Qaida in Iraq cell believed responsible for the soldiers’ abduction, according to Maj. Christopher Davis, 2nd Squadron operations officer.

Company E soldiers moved by moonlight to a group of houses, only a short walk from their base at Combat Outpost Blackfoot, then smashed their way into several buildings, clearing rooms as they went.

Raquyyah was unarmed and surrendered without a fight when soldiers entered the house he shared with a woman and four children.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50592