War News for Monday, September 29, 2008

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an eastern province of Afghanistan on Sunday, September 28th. The DPA is reporting the U.S. soldier died when an insurgent in a police uniform attacked the soldiers with small-arms fire in Paktia Province. Two additional soldiers were wounded.

We have attained a series of articles referring to an Italian soldier, Caporal Maggiore (Lance Cpl.) Alessandro Caroppo who apparently died of natural causes after an attack on his convoy in Afghanistan on Sunday, September 21st. At this time we do not have an official release but we are including him in our official count. Here's the ISAF release.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier from small-arms fire in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday September 29th. No other details were released.


Sept. 27 airpower summary:

The number of roadside bombs in Iraq that exploded or were discovered and neutralized tumbled from a high of about 2,600 per month in March and June of 2007 to 555 in August 2008, a decrease of 79 percent. The roadside bomb casualty figures, declassified for the first time by CentCom and provided to Military Times on Sept. 17 by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Sunday Police found two dead bodies throughout Baghdad, one near Al Rasheed Camp and one in Hurriyah.


Diyala Prv:
Balad Ruz:
#1: Three members of al-Qaeda, including a leading operative, were killed in a raid conducted by Iraqi army forces east of Baaquba city on Monday, according to an official army source. "Troops from the Iraqi army's 5th Division in Diala raided on Monday some strongholds of al-Qaeda in the area of Anjar, south of Baladruz district, (45 km) east of Baaquba, killing three members, including and amir (leader)," Brig. Khaled Jawad told Aswat al-Iraq.


Iskandariya:
#1: A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded three others when it struck their car in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said


Samarra:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded the mayor of Samarra, Mahmoud Khalif, and four of his guards in central Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: "On Sunday evening, a sticky improvised explosive device (IED) targeted Ahmed Salem al-Rawi, a tribal notable from al-Rawiya, while he was driving his personal car in the Fifth Bridge Tunnel, western Mosul," the source told Aswat all-Iraq. Rawi was seriously wounded, the source noted, adding that the blast occurred a few moments after he had driven his car out of the garage.

#2: Gunmen killed two brothers working for the Iraqi security forces while they were off duty in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: A car bomb wounded four people in Mosul, police said.

#4: A body was found bearing gunshot wounds in eastern Mosul, police said.

#5: Sunday night, a bomb was put under a taxi car detonated in Abu Tamam intersection in Mosul city. Only the taxi driver was injured in that incident.



Afghanistan:
#1: Pakistani forces seeking to conquer a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold near the border with Afghanistan killed 15 insurgents in ongoing clashes, officials said Monday. There was no word of casualties on the government side. It was not possible to verify the toll in the Bajur region, where journalists cannot move freely because of poor security. Fazl Rabi, a local police official, said troops repelled an overnight attack by 50 militants against a camp about 6 miles north of Khar, Bajur's main town. He said militants also attacked paramilitary troops before dawn in the Tang Khata area of Bajur. Rabi and another government official counted a total of 15 militants killed and more than a dozen wounded in overnight clashes. Two intelligence officials said three troops died in fighting in the past two days. They asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to talk on the record to media.

#2: Meanwhile, artillery fire directed at suspected militant hideouts in an area called Badali struck two houses and killed two civilians, said Niazur Rehman, a local resident.

#3: Gunmen in the southern city of Kandahar tried to kill Mohammad Hashim, the provincial council chief of neighboring Zabul province, said Fauwzia, a council member who goes by one name. The attack late Sunday sparked a clash between Hashim's bodyguards and the militants in which four bodyguards were killed, she said.

#4: In Ghazni province, Abdul Rahim Deeceewal, the district chief of Andar, said a targeted airstrike killed a Taliban leader as well as three other people in Andar.


Casualty Reports:

Matt Keil returned to Colorado to make a new life after he nearly died in Iraq. His injuries left him a quadriplegic.