War News for Monday, January 14, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division – North Soldier in a roadside bombing in in Ninewah province on Saturday, January 12th. Four other soldier were wounded in the attack.

The Dutch Defensia is reporting the deaths of two soldiers in Uruzgan Province in the vicinity of Deh Rawod, Afghanistan. This release states that the deaths occurred on Saturday, January 12th. The International Herald Tribune is reporting that the deaths are being investigated as a possible friendly fire" shootings incident.

The Citizens Voice is reporting the death of Lt. Col. Richard Berrettini who died an army hospital in Texas (Brooks Burn Center?) on Friday, January 11th, nine days after he was injured when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Khowst Province, Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border



Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen killed an Iraqi Appeals Court judge and his driver in western Baghdad on Monday, raking their car with bursts of gunfire before speeding off, security officials said. The ambush took place as the judge was being driven to work and was passing through Mansour neighbourhood, they said. "Judge Amer Jawdat Al-Naeib was killed and his driver was wounded in the gunfire but died soon afterwards," one security official said.

#2: two Iraqi soldiers were killed in Zafarania suburb, southern the Iraqi capital, the Iraqi news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) said. The soldiers, who weren't wearing the military dress code, were shot by militants on the way back to their homes to spend their usual weekend.

#3: Police found (5 ) unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhoods in Baghdad : ( 3 ) were found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank); 2 in Palestine street and 1 in Ubeidi . While ( 2 ) were found in west Baghdad ( Karkh bank ); 1 in Doura and 1 in Amil.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In the Diyala province, some 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, a dozen of suspects of al-Qaeda terrorist network were killed and 63 were arrested during the joint US-Iraqi military operation given the code name 'Operation Iron Harvest.'

Baquba:
#1: Extremists bombed a girls’ school in Baqubah Jan. 11, while Coalition Forces were patrol in the area. Two Multi-National Division – North Soldiers were injured in the attack, but were later returned to duty. The attack destroyed the back gate of the school.

Buhriz:
#1: Seven Iraqi policemen were killed when a house apparently rigged with explosives blew up north of Baghdad on Monday, police said. The police had entered the house to conduct a search, police said. The blast took place in the town of Buhriz in volatile Diyala province


Basra:
#1: Fayad al-Mosawy, a senior Sadrist figure in the southern city of Basra, was killed by militants in the early hours of the morning, Hareth al-Azary of the Sadr movement told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.


Balad:
#1: Around 2 p.m., mortars hit Balad district ( north of Baghdad ) injuring one child as destroyed one of the houses there.


Dujail:
#1: In another incident on Monday, two policemen were killed when their convoy travelling from Dujail, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, was hit by a roadside bomb as it neared the Iraqi capital, police said.
Among the dead was a police lieutenant.


Ninewah Prv:
#1: One Multi-National Division – North Soldier died from injuries sustained when an IED exploded near his vehicle while conducting operations in Ninewah province Jan. 12. Additionally, four MND-N Soldiers were injured and evacuated to a Coalition hospital.

Mosul:
#1: A car bomb parked in the Ghizlany area, south of Mosul City, near a police patrol, wounding three policemen and three civilians," Brigadier Abdul Kareem al-Jubouri, head of Nineveh's police operations office, told Xinhua. The blast also damaged a police vehicle along with several civilian cars, Jubouri said.

#2: Iraqi army forces killed two gunmen while planting an improvised explosive device (IED) in eastern Mosul on Sunday night, an official army source said on Monday."A patrol of the 2nd Division's 4th Brigade, stationed in Mosul, killed two gunmen in al-Tahrir neighborhood, eastern Mosul, while planting in IED there," Col. Ahmed al-Zibari, the 2nd Division media director, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

#3: Police in Mosul found two unidentified dead bodies in two different places in Mosul city.


Al Anbar Prv:
Haditha:
#1: Four unidentified bodies were found south of the town of Haditha in the western Iraq province of al-Anbar on Monday, police said."The bodies were lying on the road near the district of Birwana, (3 km) southern Haditah," an officer in the town police told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) on condition of anonymity.

Al Ratba:
#1: Three mortar shells landed on residential houses in al-Ratba city in Anbar province, but without causing casualties, while a mortar round hit central Falluja, an official source in the city's local council said on Monday

Fallujah:
#1: a police source said that a mortar shell hit al-Wehda neighborhood in central Falluja on Monday without causing any casualties.



Afghanistan:
#1: Dutch troops in Afghanistan killed two of their own men during a nighttime battle.

#2: Taliban militants killed eight officers in an attack Sunday on a police checkpoint in Kandahar province, said Sadullah Khan, a police officer in neighboring Neven district.

#3: A suicide bomber killed another policeman and wounded eight other people when he blew himself up in a housing compound in the town of Lashkar Gah in neighboring Helmand province, officials said.

#4: The two Afghan soldiers, who were not "recognizably in uniform," also were killed Saturday after they approached a wounded Dutch soldier 6 miles to the south, Berlijn said.

#5: Lt. Col. Richard Berrettini, a Dupont native who served with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, died last Friday at an army hospital in Texas, nine days after he was injured in Afghanistan.

#6: Four Canadian soldiers were injured yesterday afternoon when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device on a dirt road in the dangerous Panjwaii district of Kandahar province. The soldiers were working to clear the road of mines when the blast occurred at 2:45 local time. They were airlifted by helicopter to the Canadian-run field hospital at Kandahar airfield. The soldiers - all men - were treated, and two were released. The others remained in hospital for observation and were listed in good condition and expected to be released today. The explosion occurred 35 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City near Zangabad town.

#7: Swedish soldiers came under fire on Sunday afternoon outside the town of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. Shots were fired at two military jeeps attached to the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as made their way eastwards towards their camp. The incident took place around 25 kilometres west of Mazar-i-Sharif on one of Afghanistan's busiest roads.The vehicle that was shot at contained two Swedish soldiers. They did not return fire. "The shots struck the vehicle in such a way that it was put out of commission," ISAF commander Torbjörn Larsson told TT. The soldiers, aided by others in their unit and Afghan police, were able to seek refuge in a nearby house. Neither of the soldiers was injured in the attack.

#6: Militants with suicide vests, grenades and AK-47 rifles attacked Kabul's most popular luxury hotel Monday evening, killing at least six people in a coordinated assault rarely seen in the Afghan capital, witnesses and a Taliban spokesman said. It appeared to be the first direct attack on a hotel in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The assailants also appeared to concentrate on the hotel's gym and spa, where foreigners relax and work out. The 6:12 p.m. assault came on a night the Norwegian embassy was holding a meeting at the Serena Hotel. An American inside said she saw a body she believed to be dead and pools of blood in the lobby. The militants killed six people and wounded six, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. One of the attackers was shot to death and the Taliban spokesman said a second died in the suicide explosion. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told The Associated Press that four militants with suicide vests attacked the hotel - one bomber who detonated his explosives and three militants who threw grenades and fired guns and then fled. The claim could not be verified but came very soon after the attack.