War News for Thursday, October 25, 2007

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition Forces Soldier who died of wounds as a result of injuries from a mine explosion while conducting operations in Salah ad Din Province on Wednesday, Oct. 24th. Three CF Soldiers were also wounded, and two were transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment. No further information was given.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of an MNC-I Soldier who was killed on Wednesday, October 24th during combat operations near the city of Bayji. Five other Soldiers were wounded. No further information was given .

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two sailors who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Oct. 22 in Bahrain during a non-combat related incident. Both sailors held the Master-at-Arms rating and were assigned to U.S. Naval Support Activity Bahrain.
Seaman Anamarie San Nicolas Camacho, 20, of Panama City, Florida (and formerly from Tinian, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands)
Seaman Genesia Mattril Gresham, 19, of Lithonia, Georgia
The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, but multiple media reports and a Navy spokesman all indicate both young women were killed by a male navy serviceman, who then shot himself, and who remains critically wounded. The identity of the shooter has not been released, although the Gulf Daily News is reporting his identity as Clarence Jackson. It also states that Jackson is in a deep coma, with little chance of surviving. We will await offical confirmation of his identity.

NATO-ISAF is reporting the death of a servicemember during a firefight with insurgent forces while participating in Operation De Rock Bark Kooch in Kunar Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, October 23rd. Two other servicemembers were injured. Once again no nationalities were given in the report. Our assumption is this soldier was an American.

CJTF-82 is reporting the death of a U.S.-led force servicemember in a single vehicle accident about 21 miles northwest of Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan on Tuesday, October 23rd. One other servicemember was injured. No nationalities were given in the report. Our assumption is that they were American.

The Australian DoD is announcing that an Australian soldier from the Special Air Service Regiment was killed in Oruzgan Province on Thursday, October 25th. The soldier was on a patrol when he was severely wounded by small arms fire. A Coalition helicopter evacuated the soldier to a nearby medical facility, where he later died. No other Australian troops were wounded in the incident.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A Sunni schoolteacher was seized from his car, then shot to death Thursday by suspected Shiite militia fighters, police said, a grim reminder of persistent sectarian tensions in Iraq. Ahmed al-Janabi a 45-year-old father of three, was driving to visit his sister in a predominantly Shiite area in southwestern Baghdad when gunmen in two cars stopped him at an intersection.

#2: An insurgent was wounded when a U.S. helicopter attacked three insurgents who were trying to put in place a roadside bomb in northern Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

#3: Iraqi soldiers killed three gunmen and arrested 65 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

#4: U.S. forces killed three gunmen and detained 11 others on Wednesday and Thursday during operations in central Iraq, the U.S. military said.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Four children from one family were killed in a mortar shelling of a residential building in Diala on Thursday afternoon, an official security source said. Eight mortars were fired at a residential building in al-Ujeimi village in al-Salam district, northern Baaquba, killing four children from one family and leaving the house completely burnt," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source provided no further details.


Kufa:
#1: Police killed a child when they targeted a car that refused to stop at a checkpoint in Kufa, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, a security source said.


Mahaweel:
#1: A handcuffed and blindfolded body with gunshot wounds to the head was found in Mahaweel, police said.

#2: A motorist was killed by a roadside bomb in Mahaweel, 75 km (45 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Suwayra:
#1: Gunmen killed a man and wounded another outside their home in a village near the town of Suwayra, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, on Wednesday, police said.


Iskandariya:
#1: Three mortar bombs wounded one man in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, on Wednesday, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a civilian in al-Tank neighborhood in western Mosul on Thursday morning," Brigadier Abdul Kareem al-Juburi, the head of Ninewa's operations room, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: Another civilian died when an explosive charge went off in Mosul's southeastern area of al-Mithaq on Thursday morning," al-Juburi indicated. No further details were provided by the source.

#3: Meanwhile, two unknown bodies were found this morning in western Mosul," it added


Kurdistan:
#1: Early on Thursday, witnesses saw F-16 fighter jets taking off from the airport in Diyarbakir, the largest city of Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region. It was not known where the planes were heading. An Iraqi Kurdish security official said a Turkish warplane had bombed a Kurdish village on Wednesday but gave no details of any damage.



Afghanistan:
#1: Afghan troops in an operation backed by NATO have killed 10 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, a local official said Thursday. "In the operation launched Wednesday night in Deh Chopan district, at least 10 rebels were killed and 14 others sustained injuries," Fazal Bari, district chief of Deh Chopan, told Xinhua.

#2: Moreover, firefight between insurgents and police in Jalai district of the neighboring Kandahar province left four policemen dead on the same day, Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, district chief of Jalai, told Xinhua.

#3: Five Afghan soldiers were killed as they engaged with militants in Kapisa province, some 80 km north of Afghan capital city Kabul, a statement of Defense Ministry said Thursday. "Enemies of peace ambushed a convoy of Afghanistan National Army (ANA) in Tagab district Wednesday leaving five personnel of ANA dead," said the statement released here Thursday. The troops, it added, returned fire during which three militants were killed and four others were wounded.

#4: Nine more Afghan soldiers were injured when they came under militants' attack at Daudzai area of Deh Chopan in southern Zabul province Wednesday, said the statement.

#5: A suspected suicide bomber attacked a truck carrying troops in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least seven people and wounding 25, some seriously, police said. The blast happened in Mingora, the main town of Swat district where 2,500 paramilitary troops were deployed this week to fight supporters of a militant cleric. It set off an explosion of ammunition carried inside a military truck, triggering bullet fire. Amjad Khan, a police officer deputed to the hospital where the casualties were taken, said a suicide bomber had hit a platoon of 30 Frontier Constabulary troops in a truck about 300 yards from the police district headquarters as they headed to Barikot. He said the blast killed seven people and wounded 25, and firefighters were trying to douse the burning truck. Mohammed Sajid, a citizen who helped some of the wounded from the truck, said there were as many as 20 dead. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing figures. Two police officials told The Associated Press it was a suicide attack, but a third said it could have been a roadside bomb.

#6: An Australian SAS soldier has been shot and killed by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, Defence boss Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston says. The soldier was on patrol when he was severely wounded by small-arms fire from Taliban fighters. No other Australian troops were injured in the incident. The shooting occurred in southern Afghanistan's Oruzgan province earlier on Thursday.

#7: A suicide car bomb went off near a convoy of cars carrying a provincial governor in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, wounding nine people, officials said. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said that Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost province, survived the blast in Khost city unhurt, but five of his bodyguards and four civilians were wounded.


Casualty Reports:

The DoD announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Staff Sgt. Larry I. Rougle, 25, of West Jordan, Utah, died Oct. 23rd in Sawtalo Sar Mountain, Kunar Province, Afghanistan, of wounds when he was engaged by enemy small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy. USWarWatch will assume for now that this death corresponds to yesterday's NATO-ISAF report.

TheState.com is reporting the death of a South Carolina National Guard soldier on Tuesday, October 23rd. Sergeant Edward Philpot, of Latta, South Carolina, died in when his humvee went off the road and rolled over in Kandahar Province, about 21 miles northwest of Kandahar Airfield. He was a member of the Mullins-headquartered 1st Battalion, 263rd Armored Regiment. Philpot is survived by his wife and three daughters. A second service member, whose identity is being withheld, was injured.