War News for Friday, November 16, 2007

The DoD is reporting a new death of a soldier, Sgt. Derek Banks, who died in San Antonio (Brooke Army Medical Center) Tuesday, November 14th from wounds he suffered in Baghdad when his vehicle was attacked by an IED on October 25th. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Sgt. Banks was injured in an explosion which killed Spc. David E. Lambert. Three other combat engineers were also wounded. Banks was severely burned by the explosion and remained in critical condition for three weeks before he died at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The Guard said Banks was promoted posthumously from specialist to sergeant. The three other soldiers from the 237th injured by the bomb remain hospitalized in stable condition.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Violence continued Friday, with one civilian killed by a roadside bomb outside a motorcycle shop in central Baghdad, police said. Four others were wounded by the blast and transferred to a nearby hospital, they said. Some damaged was sustained to buildings next to the shop.

#2: (see #1) About an hour earlier, gunmen opened fire on the same spot, wounding one civilian, police said.

#3: U.S. military officials killed two militants in an operation southeast of Baghdad, including one wearing a vest loaded with grenades, and captured four more, including an individual suspected of planning attacks on U.S. aircraft, the military said in a statement.


Diyala Prv:
Muqdadiyah:
#1: Iraqi police said eight al-Qaida fighters were killed in a separate incident in a Shiite village near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Shiite townspeople, backed by police, drove the Sunni militants out of the village and killed eight of them, police said.


Owesap and Betra:
#1: About 600 U.S. soldiers launched an air assault south of Baghdad on Friday, targeting militants believed to be involved in the May kidnapping of three American soldiers, the military said. The raids took place around 4 a.m. in the villages of Owesap and Betra, about 12 miles south of the Iraqi capital. On Friday, two Chinook helicopters and eight Black Hawks dropped 600 U.S. troops into the targeted area, Conway said. F-16 fighter jets then dropped two bombs on an island in the Euphrates, to "deny the enemy terrain to escape," she said. Some 150 Iraqi soldiers also participated in the operation, Conway said. By midday Friday, there were no casualties on either side, she added.


Amarrah
#1: Gunmen shot dead a police officer and injured another, who was his brother, as they were leaving their home Friday in al-Amarah city south of Baghdad, media reports said. The dead police officer's son had earlier been kidnapped by a militant group and then released after 45 days


Tikrit:
#1: 5 civilians were injured in a random fire by the Iraqi army in Al Siniyah town north west of Tikrit city yesterday night.


Sadiyah:
#1: Police also found the bodies of two men, both with bullet wounds to the head, dumped in a barren area near Sadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad. The two were identified as brothers who had disappeared Thursday evening in the same town, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: Afghan and foreign forces clashed with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, leaving 25 suspected insurgents and two policemen dead, officials said Friday.
#2: In southern Kandahar province, meanwhile, a roadside bomb hit a police patrol vehicle Friday, killing four policemen, said Zhari district chief Niaz Mohammad Serhadi.

#3: Driver and conductor of an oil tanker, targeted by armed militants in central Afghanistan on Friday, have gone missing and are believed to be killed in the attack. Militants loyal to Hezbi Islami Party of former premier Gulduddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the rocket attack on the fuel tanker. A militant commander Fazal Hadi said the vehicle, supplying fuel to foreign troops, was targeted in Kapisa province on Friday. The purported commander would not comment on the killing of the driver and conductor. However, a local official, requesting anonymity, told KUNA both the driver and conductor were killed in the attack.


Casualty Reports:

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jon Martin of Bellevue loves fighting for his country, but now finds himself in a coma, fighting for his life. Martin, 33, was injured when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb Nov. 9 while serving his third tour in Iraq, his sister Heather Bollinger said. Martin -- a marathon runner -- was taken to Camp Anaconda in Baghdad, where his left leg was amputated and his spleen was removed, his sister said. The explosion also left Martin with a broken left arm and pelvis and punctured lung. Martin was also placed on a ventilator and dialysis machine because his kidneys are failing, she said. Martin has been in a medically-induced coma since the explosion and is in critical condition at a private hospital in Germany, she said. Martin, a platoon leader for the 101st Airborne Division based in Fort Campbell, Ky., worked in air assault.
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