War News for Thursday, October 16, 2008

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an explosion 23km north of Forward Operating Base Delhi in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 15th. Here's the official NATO statement.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Iraq soldier from non-battle related causes in Baghdad on Wednesday, October 15th. No other details were released.

Xinhua is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier in a friendly-fire small arms and hand grenade attack in Paktika province, Afghanistan on Thursday, October 16th. Several other soldiers were wounded in the attack. The soldiers returned fire and killed the ANP.


Oct. 14 airpower summary:

Five soldiers and five rebels killed in clashes in Turkey: Another soldier was killed when a military helicopter taking troops to the scene of the clash crashed due to technical failure, the military said. Fifteen soldiers were injured in the helicopter crash.

Sandstorm causes havoc in Baghdad:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Wednesday A roadside bomb in Baghdad's central Palestine Street area killed two members of the police and wounded two civilians, police said.

#2: Wednesday Two dead bodies were found in Baghdad, police said.

#3: A heavy sandstorm turned Iraq's capital into a pinkish haze Thursday, sending dozens of people to the hospital with respiratory problems and delaying a number of international flights. "We received 35 emergency cases since the early morning," said Dr. Nihad Jabar, who works in the emergency wing of Baghdad's Ibn al-Nafis Hospital. Most were treated and released but four people over 60 were admitted to intensive care because their cases were "very critical," Jabar said. Dr. Moayid Ala, at the same hospital, said the number of people suffering from respiratory problems is increasing each year. At the crosstown Kindi hospital, officials said they admitted 17 people, most with asthma-related difficulties.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted an army patrol in Waziriyah neighborhood (north Baghdad), around 11 am. Two Iraqi soldiers were injured.

#5: An adhesive bomb detonated under a civilian car that belongs to an employee who works for the ministry of interior. The three passengers of the car were wounded.

#6: Police found one dead body in Amil neighborhood in west Baghdad.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A suicide attacker disguised as a soldier has detonated a vest of explosives he was wearing in Iraq's Baquba city, US forces said in a statement on Thursday. The man detonated the vest with 9 kilograms of explosives in an army settlement in northern Baquba, some 60 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. No casualties were reported in the explosion which is currently under investigation.

Buhriz:
#1: A roadside bomb detonated in Buhriz town (about 3 miles south of Baquba). A 6 year old child was killed and his brother, a 7 year old child, was injured while they were herding their sheep in the area.


Balad:
#1: A suicide car bomber detonated near Balad police station around 4 pm. Four policemen were wounded.


Mosul:
#1: Seven Iraqi soldiers were wounded by a hand grenade in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Two people were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded west of Mosul, police said.

#3: Two children were wounded by an improvised explosive device in eastern Mosul, police said.
#4: Four civilians were wounded when Iraqi troops fired shots into the air in eastern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: Three Canadian soldiers have been wounded in an improvised explosive device blast during a foot patrol in a volatile district of Afghanistan west of Kandahar City. Military spokesman Maj. Jay Janzen says the soldiers have been airlifted to the hospital on the Kandahar Airfield base, where one remains in critical condition and the other two are in fair condition.

#2: An insurgent's rocket hit a key southern Afghan town Thursday, killing a civilian and wounding five other people, a local official said. The attack on Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern Helmand province, follows two other insurgent assaults this week on the security force checkpoints that ring the city. More than 80 militants were killed and three police were wounded in those clashes. The rocket landed in a city street lined with shops, killing a civilian and wounding five others, including a woman, said Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

#3: A suspected U.S. missile strike killed a purported foreign militant Thursday in a Pakistani tribal area considered a haven for the Taliban and al-Qaida. The missile strike hit a house in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan's wild border belt, considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri. Two Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press that reports from informants and field agents suggested one foreign militant died in the attack and that another foreigner was injured.

#4: a suicide bombing left four security personnel dead, officials said. Thursday's blast wrecked a police station in Swat, a picturesque valley where fighting has raged for more than a year. Police said insurgents opened fire on their station in Mingora, Swat's main town, after midnight with guns and rockets before the bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle next to the police compound.District police chief Dilawar Bangash said one officer and three paramilitary troops died and another 26 people were injured, many of them seriously.


It seems like a slow start to the news day. Perhaps the sandstorms are hampering the press or it's just a slow less violent day, I don't know but I'll update this later.
whisker