War News for Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The Herald and Weekly Times is reporting the death of an Australian SAS soldier from an IED attack in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 8th. Three other soldiers were injured in the attack. Here's the Australian DoD release.

The Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. is reporting the death of a contractor in Iraq, Justin English died in an IED attack which killed four other people. No other details were released.

Quqnoos is reporting the death of a civilian contractor during a clash in Farah Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 8th. Three other contractors were wounded in the attack and five fuel trucks were destroyed.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition force Soldier in an explosion in Salah ad-Din province on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight other soldier were wounded in the attack. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack.


July 7 airpower summary:

Noam Chomsky: It's the Oil, stupid!


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two civilians were wounded on Wednesday by unknown gunmen in southwest of Makhmour district, an Iraqi army source said. "Unidentified armed men opened fire at a civilian car near al-Mahmoudiya village on Makhmour-Qayara road, southwest Makhmour, injuring two civilians," the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#2: An improvised rocket-assisted mortar wounded one U.S. soldier and a translator when it landed near a joint U.S. and Iraqi security station in Baghdad's northeastern Ur district, setting off eight explosions, the U.S. military said in a statement.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb killed four Iraqi civilians on Tuesday when it struck a funeral procession in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.


Kut:
#1: Police found the body of a young girl dumped in a ditch close to the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.


Hilla:
#1: Police patrols on Wednesday seized a truck loaded with a large quantity of the toxic and hallucinogenic material, Halotin, said al-Hashimiya police director. "A truck loaded with 610 kg of Halotin was seized at a checkpoint in al-Dibla area (6 km south of Hilla city)," Brigadier Abdul-Salam al-Shemmary told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq . "The truck's driver, who was arrested, confessed that he was heading to Karbala province, and that the Halotin he was delivering was to be mixed with perfume that would be sprinkled on Shiite pilgrims," he said. Halotin is a toxic material that comes in powder form.


Dhuluyia:
#1: Three Sahwa members were wounded by a rocket attack in Salah al-Din on Wednesday, a police source said."Unknown gunmen fired a rocket targeting a checkpoint manned by Sahwa fighters in Bishkan village, 5 km east of Dhuluyia, leaving three variably wounded," a Salah al-Din police source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.


Tuz Khumato:
#1: Iraqi police found the body of a civilian in Tuz Khumato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two physicians were wounded, southwest of Kirkuk city, when their car came under gunmen's fire, Kirkuk suburbs and districts' police commander said on Wednesday. "Unknown armed men, driving a car on the highway between al-Multaqa district and Haweja suburb (35 km southwest of Kirkuk), opened fire on Wednesday targeting a civilian car, wounding its two passengers, one male and one female physician," Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq


Ninevah Prv:
Mosul:
#1: Six Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Wednesday in a suicide car bomb explosion in eastern Mosul, the deputy governor of Ninewa province said. "A suicide bomber detonated a car rigged with explosives targeting an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in al-Faisaliya region in eastern Mosul, injuring six soldiers," Khesro Kouran told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

The Iraqi military says five civilians were killed when a suicide car bomber targeted a military convoy carrying a top Iraqi commander. The attack happened Wednesday in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq. Lt. Gen. Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, chief of operations in Ninevah province, escaped unharmed. But the military says five civilians were killed and 22 people, including seven of the commander's guards, were injured.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a policeman in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: "An explosive charge went off targeting an Iraqi army vehicle patrol, injuring an Iraqi soldier and damaging the vehicle," the same source said.

#4: A car bomb exploded in Mosul while a disposal team was attempting to defuse it, a Ninewa operations spokesman said on Wednesday."A Toyota rigged with explosive was spotted in al-Majmua al-Thakafiya district, north Mosul, and detonated while an ordnance disposal team was attempting to defuse it," reported Brig. Khalid Abdul Sattar, spokesman for Ninewa security operations. The spokesman noted, "the blast left no casualties as security forces denied access to the site."


Sulaimaniya Prv:
#1: Iranian artillery shells rained down on villages in northern Iraq Wednesday where Kurdish rebels were thought to be operating. A security official with Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government in Sulaimaniya confirmed the information. The early-morning shelling hit border villages in Qandil mountains area in Sulaimaniya province and there were no reports of casualties.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: At least two people were killed and 11 injured Wednesday by a bomb that hit a police checkpoint in Fallujah according to police. The bomb struck a police checkpoint in the centre of Fallujah, 45 kilometres west of Baghdad, police sources told the Voices of Iraq news agency.

Iraqi police say a bomb in Fallujah has killed three police and one civilian.A police official says 15 people also are injured after Wednesday morning's blast outside a bank. The injured includes an Iraqi television cameraman.Police and a crowd gathered in the area after an explosion at 6:30 a.m. A second blast caused the casualties.

Two roadside bombs killed six people and wounded 18 outside a bank in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said. The U.S. military also said six people were killed but added there were three bomb blasts outside the bank.

Ramadi:
#1: Authorities in Iraq said 21 decomposed bodies were found buried Wednesday at an Anbar province school, and family members have identified some of them as people who were kidnapped two years ago by al Qaeda in Iraq militants. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official told CNN the bodies were found in the Adala neighborhood of central Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province west of Baghdad.



Afghanistan:
#1: Suspected militants ambushed a convoy of Pakistani paramilitary troops in the Khyber region of north-west Pakistan, killing four soldiers, officials said. The attack took place when their convoy was travelling to the base camp late at night. Three soldiers were wounded. "Militants ambushed two military vehicles near a graveyard in the Akakhel area killing three soldiers on the spot. Another died of his wounds later," Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

#2: Up to 250 civilians are reported to have been killed or injured since July 4 by various attacks in Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported Wednesday.

#3: CLASHES between foreign security contractors and Taliban militants have left one contractor dead and three others injured in the western province of Farah, the deputy governor said. Muhammad Yonis Rasoli said the clashes occurred when a group of militants attacked a convoy of cars carrying fuel to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and burned five fuel tankers. He said the Taliban also suffered casualties during the clash, which broke out on Tuesday night.

#4: Local Taliban have taken 35 policemen hostage in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on Wednesday, local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.

#5: Two Afghan policemen and six Taliban fighters were killed and four more insurgents were wounded in a clash in Ghazni province on Wednesday, a government official said.

#6: Taliban insurgents attacked two Afghan security forces' check posts on Wednesday in northeastern Nuristan, kidnapped four policemen, and a clash was going on, a district governor said. He did not have more details.