War News for Thursday, November 06, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center soldier of non-combat related causes in an undisclosed location in Iraq on Wednesday, November 5th.


Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline shut down by explosion:

US decides to bring troops home early from Iraq: The US contingent will be reduced to 14 combat brigades this month...

Airstrikes in Afghanistan increase 31%

New Iranian naval base threatens Persian Gulf:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: The deadliest attack Thursday came near a checkpoint in central Baghdad when two bombs exploded during the morning rush hour, police said. Four people were killed and seven wounded in the blasts. The twin blasts in the capital's Sunni enclave of Sheik Omar happened at a checkpoint manned by members of an Awakening Council, the mostly Sunni groups that have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

#2: Another bomb targeting a government convoy injured six people, police and hospital officials said. Police said the convoy was carrying city workers. The police spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release information.

#3: Another two Awakening Council members was killed in a bombing just before noon in southeastern Baghdad. The councils come under frequent attacks by insurgents because they have sided with U.S. forces.

#4: Roadside bombs targeting two separate convoys carrying Baghdad city officials injured eight people, the mayor's office said in a statement. The municipal officials were not hurt in the attacks.

Also Thursday, a roadside bomb targeting a government pick-up truck in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr city injured nine people including five city employees, police said.

#5: Nine other people were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad's sprawling Shiite slum of Sadr City, police said.

#6: Another roadside bomb detonated near the Al-Gailani mosque in Baghdad's central Baba Alsheikh neighbourhood, killing one person and injuring four others, police said.

#7: Around 1 pm a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in Boub Al-Sham neighborhood (north Baghdad). No casualties reported.


Muthanna Prv:
#1: Police forces on Thursday managed to defuse an anti-shields bomb found inside the Muthanna health department, a police source said. “Anti-bomb squads defused an explosive charge placed in the Muthanna health department near the office of the director,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.


Kut:
#1: A female university student on Thursday was shot as she left campus in downtown Kut city, according to a local police source. “On Thursday, a student of the Faculty of Education, Wassit University, was shot and taken to al-Karama Hospital in Kut for treatment,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.


Hawija:
#1: U.S. soldiers killed one man in an operation targeting al Qaeda near Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.


Kurkuk:
#1: Also Thursday, in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, police found the bullet-riddled body of a man believed to be in his late 40s.


Mosul:
#1: Police found the body of a woman shot in neck and chest in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Wednesday, police said.

#2: A U.S. helicopter killed two suspected al-Qaeda militants as their aircraft come under fire in an area northwest of Mosul on Wednesday, the U.S. military said in a statement.



Afghanistan:
#1: An explosion ripped through a meeting of pro-government tribesmen in Pakistan's remote region along the border with Afghanistan on Thursday, leaving three people killed and more than 45 others injured, media reports said. The blast took place when around 200 people from Salarzai tribe were holding a meeting to plan action against Taliban militants in Batmale village, some 50 kilometres from Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district, reported dpa. Urdu-language Aaj news channel reported while citing official sources that the death toll was feared to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.

#2: Afghan officials says a coalition airstrike in northwestern Afghanistan has killed 13 Taliban militants and seven civilians. Deputy governor Abdul Ghani Saburi of Badghis province says the airstrike hit a house in Ghormach district early Thursday. A spokesman for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan says they are aware of possible civilian casualties following an insurgent ambush in the area. Saburi says a three-hour-long clash between militants and Afghan and foreign troops preceded the airstrike.

#3: Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF)and the U.S.-led Coalition forces on Tuesday killed eight insurgents during a combat patrol in southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, said a Coalition statement issued here on Thursday. The joint patrol was headed toward a village to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to villagers in the Khas Uruzgan district when insurgents attacked the patrol with small-arms fire, machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades from fighting positions near the road, the statement said. "ANSF and Coalition forces returned fire killing eight insurgents," it said.


Casualty Reports:

Army Spec. Matt Lavoie has been undergoing a series of operations at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., since he was wounded by a roadside bomb in late September."He has had 10 surgeries to try to save his right arm," said Carrie Tonon, a friend of Lavoie's family.