By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2004 -- Coalition forces acting on a tip by Iraqis captured a known associate of Izzat Ibrahim al-Dhouri, Coalition Provisional Authority officials announced today.

During a briefing today from Baghdad, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for Combined Joint Task Force 7, said that Ayed Hameed Nouri was arrested Feb. 23 at the Niwan Hotel in central Mosul. He was apprehended without incident.

Kimmitt reported that in a separate raid Iraqi Civil Defense Corps forces captured Shahab Al-Hawas, a suspected financier of coalition attacks and a cousin of al-Dhouri.

Over the past 48 hours, coalition forces conducted seven offensive operations in Mosul against members of an organization known as the al-Rawfa al-Watani movement, Kimmitt also reported. Seventeen individuals were detained as a result of the raids, including two targets.

Other events Kimmitt reported included the following:

• An Iraqi police officer was fired upon while walking to his station in northern Mosul by unknown persons driving a maroon Opel. The assailants fired about 20 to 30 rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle at the officer, who was not injured.
  

   

• Two days ago, a white Jeep Cherokee with three personnel armed with AK-47s conducted a drive-by shooting of a northeastern Mosul police station. Two wounded Iraqi policemen were taken to a local hospital.
  

   

• Today, an Iraqi police service student was wounded en route to the Mosul Public Safety Academy. The student is currently in a Mosul hospital.
  

   

• In Baghdad, one mortar round impacted near the Attamiyah police station Feb. 22. The mortar missed the police station but struck a house behind it, fatally wounding two Iraqi civilians.
  

   

• Coalition forces supported an Iraqi police special combat unit raid Feb. 22 on suspected murderer Nasir Mashur, who was captured without incident.
  

   

• In the western zone, a joint cordon and search led to the capture of 18 criminal gang members suspected of impersonating coalition forces while committing criminal activities. Another operation captured five individuals suspected of using local mosques as weapon markets and safe houses. The individuals are believed to have facilitated a Feb. 10 car bombing attack in Iskandariyah.
  

   

• In the central south zone, local Iraqis reported a possible bomb near a small village in Hillah. Coalition forces responded and arrested three individuals carrying explosives in their vehicle.
  

   

• In the southeastern zone of operations, a coalition force convoy southwest of Abu Zubair was fired upon with small-arms fire from a white four- door vehicle. There were no casualties. "The convoy did not return fire and continued on its mission south," Kimmitt said.
  

Meanwhile, Kimmitt reported an average of 20 engagements daily against coalition military in the past week, four attacks daily against Iraqi security forces and a little under three against Iraqi civilians.

Overall, Kimmitt told reporters that in the past 24 hours, 1,412 patrols, 29 offensive operations and 10 raids were conducted, and 36 anti-coalition suspects captured.