War News for Friday, August 15, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - West Marine in a small arms fire attack near Fallujah on Thursday, August, 14th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Corps-Iraq Soldier who died of non-battle related causes in Baghdad on Friday, August, 15th.

The Guardian is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in a roadside bomb and small arms fire in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, August, 15th. No other details were released.


US-trained Iraqi troops taking over Georgian base:

Firing on India-Pakistan border:

UK to withdraw most troops from Iraq by May 2009:

Tallahassee Soldier Found Dead In Fort Hood Barracks:

the third soldier's death at the Central Texas Army post in two weeks.


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Early on Friday, at least one Shiite pilgrim was killed in Baghdad and 10 more were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as their bus was leaving for Sunday's festival, police said.

#2: Thursday One unidentified body was found in Amiriya neighbourhood by Iraqi Police, Thursday.

#3: Two people were wounded when a mortar bomb landed in the Zaafaraniya district of southeastern Baghdad, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted an army patrol near the Baghdad international exhibition in Harthiyah neighborhood (downtown Baghdad). 6 people were injured including 3 soldiers.

A roadside bomb wounded six people, including three Iraqi soldiers conducting a foot patrol, in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, police said.


Tikrit:
#1: Iraqi police killed 12 militants, including two foreign fighters, in raids on Thursday near Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

#2: A car bomb went off at busy parking-lot and a marketplace in a Shiite town in Iraq's Salahudinprovince on Friday, killing at least nine people and wounding 40 others, a provincial police source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Police forces killed a gunman in the wee small hours of the morning during armed clashes in al-Asriya village in south of Kirkuk, and they found inside his house five bombs and documents of al-Naqshabandiya group,” Brigadier Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq.

Clashes took place between the Iraqi police and gunmen in downtown Kirkuk city this morning. One gunman was killed and three others arrested.


Mosul:
#1: killed one Iraqi soldier when it exploded on Thursday in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen tried to assassinate Sheikh Khamees Al-Dulaimi, the Imam of one of the mosques in Falluja. The Imam was survived who is in hospital now to be treated from his injury.



Afghanistan:
#1: Pakistan's top civilian security official has vowed to "wipe out" Islamic militants in a volatile tribal region where he says more than 460 insurgents and 22 troops have died in 10 days of fighting.

#2: Hundreds of Taliban militants overran Nawah district in southern Ghazni province on Friday morning after the local authorities and police forces left the district, said Mohibullah Khepilwak, the district administrative chief. 'We were under severe pressure by the Taliban militants for the past several days,' Khepilwak told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone from the province, adding, 'We had asked the government to send reinforcement, but nobody was sent.' 'In order to avoid casualties, we have tactically withdrawn from the district and as we get reinforcement we will recapture the district,' he said, adding that according to the information he had received from the area, the Taliban burned the headquarters for the district. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid also confirmed that their forces had captured the district without any resistance by the 'Afghan and foreign forces.'

#3: Meanwhile, four policemen were killed and five others were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a roadside mine in Gerishk district of the southern province of Helmand on Thursday evening, Mohammad Hussain Andewal, the provincial police chief, said. He said that police forces were patrolling in the area when the attack happened.


Casualty Reports:

Spc. Andrew Birzer's memory was damaged when an explosion rocked his vehicle during a military mission in Afghanistan about three years ago. The Iowa Army National Guard soldier is struggling with a traumatic brain injury. He served as a medic in Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery, which is based in Fort Dodge. In May 2004, the battalion was dispatched to Afghanistan for about a year of duty. The blast that changed his life happened there. Samantha Birzer said her husband was riding in a convoy when the vehicle he was in drove over an improvised explosive device. The traumatic brain injury he suffered in that blast damaged his short-term memory and impaired his speech, according to his wife.

Spc. Matthew Richardson, 21, can now breathe, eat and drink on his own. He was shot in the neck July 7 in a non-combat accident. He was paralyzed from a gunshot wound in Baghdad last month is making significant progress, family members said. Doctors had inserted a chest tube to help him breathe because of a collapsed lung, but his breathing is improving. He no longer requires any chest tubes.