War News for Monday, October 20, 2008

The Houston Chronicle is reporting the deaths of two German ISAF soldiers in a suicide bicycle attack in a Northern province if Afghanistan on Monday, October 20th. Two additional soldiers were wounded in the attack. Five Afghani children were also killed in the blast and two others wounded. Here's the ISAF statement.

Reuters is reporting the death of a Marine in a non-combat related incident at the al Asad base, Al Anbar province, Iraq on an undisclosed date. No other details were released.


Oct. 16 airpower summary:

17 Oct. airpower summary:

18 Oct. airpower summary


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb struck a double-decker bus in eastern Baghdad and killed two people, Iraqi authorities said Monday. Seven others were wounded in the attack. Iraqi police and hospital officials said the bus was carrying employees of Iraq's Housing Ministry through the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Mashtal when the blast occurred.

#2: Also Monday, an Iraqi policeman was arrested for allegedly using police vehicles to smuggle weapons to Baghdad. Iraqi forces captured the man, acting on a warrant from the Interior Ministry, the U.S. military said in a statement.

#3: Iraqi police on Sunday said an explosives ordnance team defused a roadside bomb planted near a school for girls in central Baghdad. “An Intelligence tip-off led an ordnance team to defuse a roadside bomb planted al-Huda secondary school for girls in Karrada district, central Baghdad,” a police source told Aswat al-Iraq.

#4: Sunday Police found one dead body in Ameen of the New Baghdad neighborhood ( east Baghdad).

#5: The Iraqi army killed two militants and arrested 51 others on Sunday in different areas across Iraq, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

#6: In a separate attack, a bomb placed under a taxi exploded at Maysaloun Square in east Baghdad, police said. Police and health officials said two people were killed and two injured.

#7: A roadside bomb detonated on Palestine Street (east Baghdad) targeting a police patrol. Four people were injured including one policeman.

#8: One dead body was found today in Al-Ghadeer in the New Baghdad neighborhood in eastern Baghdad.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Three gunmen were killed when an improvised explosive device they were planting northeast of Baaquba city went off on Monday, a police source in Diala province said. “Three gunmen were killed in a blast of an IED they were emplacing in the area of al-Assaf, Mandili, Diala province,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq, adding the three gunmen were suspected members of al-Qaeda network.

Buhriz:
#1: Police found one dead body in Buhriz (south Baquba).

#2: Iraqi army killed two Qaeda members, one was a leader, in Al-Khulis village in Buhriz(south of Baquba).

Muqdadiyah:
#1: Police killed a civilian by mistake when they raided Muqdadiyah town (north east of Baquba) at noon.

Mandli:
#1: Police killed three gunmen in Mandli town (east of Baquba) in clashes took place at the town.

Khanaqeen:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a civilian contractor in Khanaqeen which was planted near his house. The contractor was killed at once.


Mosul:
#1: A man was killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen assassinated a member of the Kurdistan Democratic party (KDP) in Sahin Al-Sham in Mosul.

#3: A sniper killed a policeman in Borsa neighborhood in Mosul when he stopped near one of the check points in the area.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted a civilian car in Dhibat neighborhood in Mosul city. Six people were injured from one family.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Iraq police said they found a mass grave containing decomposed bodies of 10 civilians killed about two years ago in Anbar province, 20 km northwest of Falluja. Police said they learned the location of the grave by interrogating a member of al Qaeda.



Afghanistan:
#1: A British woman working for a charity in Afghanistan has been shot dead. Aid worker Gayle Williams was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle as she walked alone in the capital, Kabul, at about 8am local time. Local officials initially said the aid worker was South African and worked with disabled Afghans. But it later emerged that she held a British passport. It is not clear whether she held dual nationality. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying Ms Williams was killed because she was spreading Christianity. Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said the aid worker was shot in the body and leg with a pistol. Reports said Ms Williams worked for Serve Afghanistan, a British-registered Christian charity that focuses on public health education, training people with disabilities and community development.

#2: The NATO-led coalition said Monday it had killed more than 20 insurgents during two days of fighting in Wardak province. Soldiers with the International Security Assistance Force conducted an air assault in the province's Jalrez district, located west of Kabul. The soldiers were attacked with small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and rockets, the NATO-led force said in a statement. No NATO troops were slain in the fighting, the statement said.

#3: Police said on Monday that a group of gunmen abducted an Afghan former presidential candidate in the capital Kabul. Humayun Asifi and two relatives were kidnapped by unknown gunmen at 11 pm on Sunday night when he was on his way to his home in western part of Kabul city, Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman, said.

#4: A suicide bomber hit a convoy of German troops in the northern province of Kunduz, some 240 km (150 miles) northwest of Kabul, killing five children and seriously wounding at least two of the soldiers, a senior police official said. A spokesman for the NATO-led force said there were "some fatalities" among the troops but declined to state the nationalities of the soldiers.

#5: Unidentified gunmen ambushed a police vehicle in Gorziwan district of Faryab province, 350 km (215 miles) northwest of Kabul, killing four policemen, including the district police chief, the provincial police chief said.

#6: A suicide bomber on foot blew himself up in Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Helmand province, 555 km (345 miles) southwest of Kabul, the British military said. There were no other casualties as a result of the blast.