WAR.WIRE
Discovery of weapons cache underscores Iraq weapons free-for-all
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) Nov 25, 2004
The reported discovery of a mosque packed with weapons and a chemicals lab in Fallujah were the latest revelations about an arms haul one US military officer said was enough to take over Iraq.
Weapons found in and around the Saad Abi Bin Waqas mosque represented the largest cache discovered by US and Iraqi forces since they launched a massive assault to crush insurgents in Fallujah, the US military said Thursday.
The army described the mosque as a suspected safe house where Abdullah al-Janabi, the insurgents' spiritual leader, preached his sermons laden with "anti-coalition rhetoric".
A truck was found in compound that contained various explosive compounds, rocket-propelled grenades, grenades, mortar rounds, rockets and bomb making materials, it said.
"Initial assessments indicate the truck may have been a mobile IED factory," it said, using the term for home-made bombs that the military calls improvised explosive devices.
In Baghdad, Iraqi security chief Qassem Daoud said national guardsmen had found a workshop in Fallujah used to manufacture explosives and chemical substances.
"In a house in the industrial district, in southwest Fallujah, national guards discovered a chemical materials laboratory that was used to make explosives and toxic substances," he told a news conference.
"There were also pamphlets showing ways to make explosives, toxic substances, including anthrax," he said.
On Wednesday, US Lieutenant Colonel Dan Wilson told reporters that troops had been surprised by the number of weapons found, describing a "free-for-all in the city of Fallujah for months".
"The sheer amount of caches we've found would stun you. You could literally take over this country with the number of weapons we've found," he said.
On November 8, US and Iraqi troops launched a massive assault against Fallujah -- the largest post-war military operation in Iraq -- in a bid to reclaim the lawless enclave ahead of key elections scheduled for January 30.
The Sunni Muslim bastion had been off-limits for months. The US-led forces are keen to prevent rebels from leaving Fallujah to join ranks with other insurgents and take the battle to other cities.
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