War News for Friday, October 17, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition force Soldier in an indirect fire attack in Diyala Province on Thursday, October 16th. No other details were released.


Oct. 15 airpower summary:

Kurdish rebels kill three Iranian Guards members:

Spokesman: 35 PKK rebels killed in operations in Turkey:

Ba'ath seeks showdown with Baghdad:

Afghanistan Taliban becomes stronger in numbers:

Mahdi Army Bides its Time:

Iraq rejects U.S. claims of Iran trying to bribe Iraqis:

Time: How the Recession Could End the Iraq War:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Officials say a bomb planted near a mosque in north Baghdad killed three Shiite worshippers as they were leaving Friday prayers. Police and health officials say seven were wounded in the blast on the holy day of the Muslim week. The blast happened in the primarily Shiite neighborhood of Shaab. Police say some homes have also been damaged.

#2: A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded four others in the northeastern Baghdad neighbourhood of al-Shaab, police said.

#3: The U.S. military said it killed two suspected members of 'special groups,' its term for Shi'ite militants it believes are backed by Iran, on Thursday in eastern Baghdad.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: “Policemen on Friday waged a security raid in al-Ameen region in central Baaquba, where they arrested Nedal Abdul Wahed al-azawi who was preparing to implement a suicide attack at the center of the city,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.

Muqdadiya:
#1: “Police forces also launched another operation in Abi Saida district in Muqdadiya, east of Baaquba, where they arrested Rabieea Kazem Mohamed, a suspected suicide bomber,” he noted.


Missan Prv:
#1: About three policemen and four civilians were killed in clashes between police and gunmen in Missan on Thursday, a security source said. “Three policemen including an officer and four civilians during clashes that erupted between a police patrol and gunmen in Kumeit district, 25 km north Amara,” a Missan police source told Aswat al-Iraq. “The clashes broke out when the police patrol raided a house in Kumeit district searching for wanted individuals,” the source noted.


Kut:
#1: Police forces on Friday found an unknown body of a pregnant woman near the city of Kut, a security source said. “Policemen found the unknown body in al-Ahrar district in western Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq, noting that the body bore signs of gunshot wounds.

#2: Gunmen shot a tribal leader on Thursday afternoon in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, police said. The tribal leader was taken to the hospital.


Amarra:
#1: A wanted man was killed by unidentified gunmen north of al-Amara city on Friday, a media source within the Missan province police department said. “Unknown gunmen opened their machine-gun fire at a wanted man suspected of having killed three policemen in al-Jidiya village, Kemit district, (25 km) north of Amara, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.


Sulaimaniya Prv:
#1: Iranian heavy artillery pounded cross-border areas in Sulaimaniya province, but no casualties were reported, a senior official said on Friday. “Heavy artillery shelling began last midnight and continued until this noon,” the director of Sulaimaniya’s Zarawa district, Ezad Wasso, told Aswat al-Iraq. The shelling targeted the areas of Razka, Mardo, Shanawa, and Arka, nearly 15 km from the Iraqi-Iranian borders, the director explained, noting that no casualties were reported.

#2: Three Turkish fighter planes bombed four border villages in Bashder district in northeast Sulaimaniyah other than the ones bombarded by the Iranian artillery. The attack started at around 1 p.m. and continued until 2 p.m. No casualties were reported.


Kirkuk:
#1: Qadir Aziz, a guard in a driver training establishment was killed by gunmen in Chamchamal district, to the northeast of Kirkuk city early Friday.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was killed and four others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in eastern Mosul city on Friday, a police source in Ninewa said. “The IED blast targeted an Iraqi army patrol in al-Karama neighborhood, eastern Mosul, leaving an Iraqi soldier killed and four others, including an officer in the rank of lieutenant, wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq, not giving more information about the incident.

#2: Five people, including two policemen, were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a police patrol in northern Mosul on Friday, a security source said. “The IED ripped through al-Jamea neighborhood, northern Mosul, near a police patrol, wounding two security men and three civilians who happened to be near the explosion scene,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.

#3: A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded another in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
Haditha:
#1: A policeman was killed and three others were wounded on Friday in an accident near the city of Haditha, a police source said. “A police vehicle patrol turned over on the highway near the city of Haditha, Anbar province,” a police source told Aswat al-Iraq. “four police men were wounded in the accident and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he explained, noting that one of them died of wounds.

Fallujah:
#1: Three policemen were wounded by a roadside bomb targeting their patrol in the village of Saqlawiya near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: Afghan authorities are investigating the deaths of at least 17 civilians during a clash between NATO forces and militants in southern Afghanistan, an official said Friday. Villagers and a senior police official claimed Thursday that a NATO airstrike killed the civilians, including women and children, in Nad Ali district of the Helmand province. The NATO-led force in Afghanistan confirmed that it carried out an airstrike in the area on Thursday — but not that it resulted in any civilian casualties.

#2: Pakistani security forces have found one of two kidnapped Chinese engineers held for seven weeks by suspected Taliban militants, the army said Friday. An army statement said only that troops had recovered the man alive and that it would provide more details later. The two telecommunications engineers disappeared in the Dir region of western Pakistan on Aug. 29. A spokesman for Taliban militants in the neighboring Swat region claimed that they were holding the pair.