War News for Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Lance Cpl. Daniel R. Bennett died of an undisclosed non-hostile incident in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on Sunday January, 11th.


Jan. 12 airpower summary:

Detainee Was Tortured, a Bush Official Confirms:

127057 detainees released under amnesty law - source:


Pakistan Seeks Mass Deportation of Khyber Afghan Refugees:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A strong blast took place on Wednesday morning near al-Sirafiya bridge in northern Baghdad, eyewitnesses said. “An explosive charge went on Wednesday morning (Jan.14) in al-Kesra region near al-Sirafiya bridge in northern Baghdad,” an eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. There was no immediate word on casualties, and Iraqi security forces sealed off the whole region.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded three civilians when it exploded near a police patrol in the eastern neighbourhood of Zaafaraniya, police said.

#3: “Another bomb was detonated near al-Mustansiriya university in eastern Baghdad, injuring four civilians,” he added.

A roadside bomb wounded four people in eastern Baghdad's Palestine Street, police said.

#4: The spokesman for the transport ministry on Wednesday said that an interior ministry’s force managed to defuse an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to the vehicle of the ministry’s undersecretary. “A force from the interior ministry defused a sticky IED attached to the vehicle of the transport ministry’s undersecretary Binkien Rikan, who discovered it while leaving his house in Baghdad,” Samir al-Shiwli told Aswat al-Iraq. “The bomb was defused without casualties,” he noted.


Amarra:
#1: An explosive charge went off targeting a U.S. convoy in north of Amara, without leaving casualties, an Iraqi army source said on Wednesday. “The bomb exploded late Tuesday (Jan. 13) targeting a U.S. convoy in al-Butayra street in north of Amara, without leaving casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The U.S. forces sealed off the region, while helicopters were seen hovering over the area,” he added. For his part, the spokesman for the U.S. army in Iraq, Muqdad Jibraeel told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that the explosion left no casualties among U.S. forces.


Makhmour:
#1: Iraqi army forces on Wednesday found an unknown body in west of Makhmour district, an Iraqi army source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen killed an off-duty policeman in eastern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi police say two people have been killed and two wounded in a suicide car bombing in the northern city of Mosul. A senior official at the provincial security headquarters says the attacker detonated his explosives Wednesday at an Iraqi military checkpoint in the Zanjili neighborhood.

#2: Meanwhile, a military source said that Iraqi army soldiers killed a gunman and injured another one on Tuesday night while attempting to launch Katyusha rockets in al-Sideeq neighborhood in north of Mosul.

Two militants accidentally triggered a roadside bomb while trying to plant it in northern Mosul, killing one of them and wounding the other, on Tuesday, police said.

#3: A parked car bomb killed a soldier and wounded another three people including a soldier when it exploded on army convoy in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A key route for NATO supply trucks through southwest Pakistan into Afghanistan reopened Wednesday five days after tribesmen blocked it over the killing of a man in a drugs raid, police said.

#2: Unidentified gunmen Wednesday shot dead three policemen in southwestern Pakistan's Quetta city, private TV channel Geo reported. Unknown attackers riding on a motor bike opened fire on a police mobile vehicle near Government Girls Polytechnic college in Quetta, capital city of Balochistan province. As a result, a senior police officer Hasan Ali and two other policemen were killed while three other policemen sustained injuries.


Casualty Reports:

Cpl. Melroy H. Cort, 24, legs had been amputated above the knees when he was wounded by a makeshift bomb in Ramadi during his third tour of duty in Iraq In the 2006 incident.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Marc Olson was wounded recently in Iraq. Olson sustained major head, neck and eye injuries when suicide bombers attacked his post Nov. 8. He returned home to Coal City last month from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He has returned to the hospital for additional treatment.