War News for Tuesday, June 03, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier from a non-battle related cause in Iraq on Tuesday, June 3rd. No other details were released and the incident is under investigation.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 3rd. One additional soldier and one local national were wounded in the attack. No other details were released. We believe these to be Americans.

The Canadian DND is reporting the death of Captain Richard (Steve) Leary from small arms fire in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province on Tuesday, June 3rd.


June 1 airpower summary:

Mideast weather roundup:

Last month, the House of Representatives passed legislation to prohibit the military from engaging in “any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes or behavior of the people of the United States in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly.”


Reported Security incidents:

#1: Around 4 p.m., four mortar shells hit the Muthana airport in downtown Baghdad, the Iraqi army and the Shiite Dawa party have headquarters there. No casualties reported.

#2: Around 8:30 p.m., a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Palestine street in east Baghdad. Six people were injured including 3 policemen.

#3: Police found 3 dead bodies in Baghdad today: 2 in Shaab in east Baghdad (Risafa bank) and 1 was found in Shoala in northwest Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris River or Karkh.


Diyala Prv:
#1: The body of a child kidnapped three days ago was found in al-Katoun neighborhood, west of Baaquba district, on Tuesday, a security source said.

#2: Ten Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device went off near a military convoy north of Baaquba city, a security source said. "An IED went off today on the main in al-Adhim, al-Khalist district, (15 km) north of Baaquba, near a military convoy, leaving 10 Iraqi soldiers wounded," the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. The soldiers were coming from Ninewa province, 405 km north of Baghdad, to the Iraqi capital to attend a training course, the source said, not giving more details.

#3: Three operatives of al-Qaeda network were killed in clashes that erupted near a checkpoint of the Sahwa (Awakening) tribal forces east of Baaquba on Tuesday, a police source said. "Three members of al-Qaeda were killed on Tuesday when clashes broke out near a checkpoint of the Sahwa fighters in al-Mufisa village, Abu Sayda district, (20 km) east of Baaquba," the source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Tikrit:
#1: Three Iraqi army and police officers were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near a joint patrol east of Tikrit city on Tuesday, an Iraqi police source in Salah al-Din province said. "The IED went off today in the area of Talloul Hamrin near a joint army-police patrol roaming some remote areas used by gunmen in movement between the provinces of Salah al-Din, Diala and Kirkuk. Three officers were wounded in the explosion," the source, who refused to reveal his name, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq


Kirkuk:
#1: Four policemen were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near the Police Academy in the city of Kirkuk on Tuesday morning, a police source said.

#2: Two civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off southwest of the city of Kirkuk. "A roadside IED went off near an orchard on Tuesday, leaving two people harvesting wheat and barley in Nazaka village wounded," the source, who asked not to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Mosul:
#1: update The death toll from a suicide car bomb attack against the main police headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul rose to 11 on Tuesday, police said. Two more people succumbed to their injuries following the Monday night bombing in the centre of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, police Colonel Saad al-Juburi said.

#2: Witnesses in Mosul, meanwhile, said Kurdish troops reinforced positions Tuesday at Iraqi government buildings in the northern al-Arabi district, deploying fighters to rooftops despite an order from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to vacate the area. "We've seen an intensified presence of peshmerga (Kurdish militia), and their numbers have increased along with armored vehicles," one resident said on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. He added that government troops had also increased their patrols.


Kurdistan:
#1: Iranian artillery shelling resumed on a number of villages in the district of Haj Omran, northeast of Arbil, leaving no casualties but forcing villagers to relocate to other places, the district chief said on Tuesday. "The Iranian artillery continued last night on the villages of Berri Koshk, Birnadoz, Wadi Sibra Waja and Lahwa of Haj Omran, Juman district, (200 km) northeast of Arbil," Ahmed Qader told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. The shelling left no casualties or material losses, the source added. Meanwhile, local residents of villages that came under the Iranian attacks said the shelling was so thick that it forced many villagers to flee their homes.



Afghanistan:
#1: A district intelligence chief was killed in a Taliban ambush on Tuesday in the southeastern province of Khost, officials and a Taliban spokesman said.

#2: An airstrike by foreign troops killed five Taliban insurgents overnight in an area of Paktia near the border with Pakistan, provincial officials said.

#3: A guard of a road construction company was killed and three more wounded in a Taliban ambush on Tuesday in Zabul in the south, an official said.

In the southern Zabul province, Taliban fighters ambushed a NATO logistics convoy and killed one private security guard, said provincial police chief Saridullah Khan.

#4: In neighbouring Kandahar, a car bomb aimed at a police convoy wounded a civilian.

#5: In Herat province's Ghoryan district, Taliban attacked a police checkpoint, killing one officer and kidnapping six, said Haji Raouf Ahmadi, police spokesman for western Afghanistan.

#6: U.S.-led coalition forces killed ``several'' militants during an operation in the Garmser district of Helmand province Monday, the coalition said. Militants attacked the coalition troops while they were searching a compound, and the troops responded with gunfire, mortars and air strikes, killing the militants, the coalition statement said


Casualty Reports:

Army 1st Lt. Jonathan Dell, 24, was injured while on patrol in east Baghdad. Jonathan Dell's wife, Rachael, said she learned in April her husband had been injured by an improvised explosive device while on patrol. Jonathan Dell, a lieutenant with the Army's 1st Battalion 66th Armored Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, had been in Iraq for a month as a tank platoon leader before the attack. Jonathan's left tibia was shattered by shrapnel, and he's now going through rehabilitation in Fort Hood, Texas, where he's stationed.