War News for Wednesday, July 23, 2008

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier during an insurgent attack in Kajaki, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 22nd. The British MoD is reporting that the dead soldier is British and describes the attack as a complex attack using small arms fire and IED's. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack.


Attacks on U.S. convoys decline:

Iraqi insurgents have nearly ceased their once-constant attacks on convoys delivering U.S. supplies for reconstruction projects and equipment for Iraq's security forces, and shipments are at their highest levels since the start of the war.

Through June 2008, there were only 93 attacks on about 6,100 logistics convoys carrying supplies ranging from building materials for schools, hospitals and public utilities to weapons for local police, Pentagon data obtained by USA TODAY show.

That's a convoy-attack rate of about 1.5%. During some months in late 2006 and early 2007, attack rates were up to 20%.

Special Interview: Islamic Army in Iraq:

Ex-Advisers Warn Against Threatening to Attack Iran:

Study: Black Officers Remain Rare In Military:

Blacks make up about 17 percent of the total force, yet just 9 percent of all officers. That fraction falls to less than 6 percent for general officers with one to four stars, according to data obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press.


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Police found 3 dead bodies in Baghdad today: 2 were found in Risafa bank(east Baghdad); 1 in Shaab and 1 in Habibiya. While 1 was found in Amil in Karkh bank.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A bomb attached to a tractor killed five people at a checkpoint manned by a neighbourhood patrol group on Monday in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Muqdadiya:
#1: A woman was killed on Wednesday by roadside bomb blast in northeast of Baaquba, a security source said. “An explosive device went off in al-Wgiehiya region in Muqdadiya district, northeast of Baaquba, killing a woman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded 11 people on Tuesday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

#2: Two Iraqi soldiers were killed on Wednesday in an attack launched by unknown gunmen on an Iraqi army checkpoint in eastern Mosul, an army source said. “Unidentified gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in al-Tahrir neighborhood in eastern Mosul, killing two soldiers instantly,” the source, who requested for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded three policemen when it exploded near their patrol in southeastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles), north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: Gunmen shot dead a civilian in front of his house in central Mosul, police said.

#5: Mortar shells wounded two civilians when they landed on a police station in southeastern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the police chief of Helmand province, told Xinhua that police on Tuesday evening killed the Taliban militants' ambush on several checkpoints in Lashkar Gha district, the provincial capital, killing five militants. "The fighting last for two hours," Andiwal said, adding "one Afghan soldier and the other police were injured in the clash."

#2: In the other incident, police on Tuesday night engaged and eliminated three Taliban insurgents while on patrol in Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province, the provincial police chief Juma Gul Humat said. "No police were killed or injured," he added.

#3: U.S.-led coalition troops killed "several" Taliban insurgents during a search in the Sayed Abad district of Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul on Tuesday, a U.S. military statement said. Afghan intelligence sources said five Taliban insurgents, including two commanders, were killed in the raid.

#4: A remote-controlled roadside bomb killed a district police chief on Wednesday in the eastern province of Nangarhar, a provincial official said.

#5: Separately, a civilian vehicle struck a mine in Khost province in Afghanistan's east Tuesday, killing four people and wounding three, provincial police official Yaqub Khan said. The dead included a 2-year-old and a woman.