Operation Purple Haze Explained

Conflict:Operation Purple Haze
Partof:Iraq War
Date:15 July 2007
Place:Baghdad, Iraq
Result:Successful Iraqi and American raid
Combatant1: United States Army
New Iraqi Army
Combatant2:Iraqi insurgency
Commander1: Abboud Qanbar
David Petraeus
Commander2:unknown
Strength1:Unknown
Strength2:Unknown
Casualties1:None
Casualties2:Two caches of homemade explosives detained

Baghdad Soldiers, working together with Iraqi Army troops, discovered two caches totaling approximately 700 lbs. of homemade explosives in the early morning hours of 15 July 2007 in Operation Purple Haze.

Operation Details

The 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment made the cache finds during Operation Purple Haze, part of an ongoing effort to establish security in the western Baghdad Jamiya'a neighborhood.

The homemade explosives, 14 50-lb. bags, were found in an abandoned house along with ball bearings and detonation cord. An explosive ordnance disposal unit conducted a controlled detonation of the one bag of homemade explosives at the site of the discovery. The bag was torn and the explosives were leaking, making the bag unsafe for transportation. All other items in the cache were removed from the house prior to demolition.

In a separate raid during the same operation, a smaller cache of munitions and weapons was discovered. Two machine guns, one AKM assault rifle and a variety of knives, grenades and other small explosives were uncovered in a second abandoned home in the neighborhood.

Participating units

American units

Iraqi units

3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division

See also

External links