War News for Wednesday, March 25, 2009

March 23 airpower summary:

March 22 airpower summary:

Blog: Professor in Iraq: Maj. Mike Roscoe, a physician assistant in the Indiana National Guard and and assistant professor in the Butler University PA program, has been blogging about his deployment to Iraq since Aug. 31, 2008. (as always please don't troll...whisker.)

Iraq seeks bids for oil field development:

Obama plan stirs battle cry from wounded-warrior vets:

In Afghanistan, Taliban Taking Cut of Reconstruction Funds:

Blast in southeastern Turkish city kills one-agency:

NATO can't measure Afghan war performance -general:


Reported Security incidents:

Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A civil society official survived an attempt on his life Wednesday when a bomb exploded targeting his vehicle in central Baaquba, a police source said. “An improvised explosive device went off on Wednesday (Mar. 25) targeting the official of the civil society institutions commission, Hazbar Masier al-Azawi, in central Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The official survived the explosion, while his brother was injured,” the source added.


Makhmour:
#1: Iraqi army forces found an unknown body in west of Makhmour district on Wednesday, an army source said. “The forces found an unknown body of a 30-year-old civilian on the main road between al-Qayara and Makhmour districts near Alwa Mahmoud village, west of Makhmour,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Sulaimaniyah:
#1: Iranian artillery bombarded the villages on Qindeel Mountain in northwest Sulaimaniyah province Wednesday morning without causing any human casualties.


Hawija:
#1: A patrol of Sahwa fighters in al-Huwaiyja district in southwest of Kirkuk found a bomb near Umm Kaseir village in the district,” the same source said, noting that the Sahwa defused it.


Kirkuk:
#1: An explosive charge went off targeting a civilian car of Sahwa fighters near the airport intersection in the southwest of Kirkuk, without leaving casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Meanwhile, unknown gunmen shot dead a retarded man at his home in Sumer neighborhood Central of Kirkuk earlier Tuesday, the source said.


Mosul:
#1: The first bomb targeted US soldiers patrolling the al-Bakr neighbourhood of eastern Mosul. One civilian was killed in the explosion and three others were wounded, a source in the Mosul police department told the German Press Agency dpa, speaking on condition of anonymity.

#2: Shortly afterwards a second bomb exploded, apparently targeting an Iraqi policeman on patrol in the eastern Mosul neighbourhood of al- Tahrir. The blast severely injured the policeman and three civilians, police said. Read more: "One Iraqi civilian killed, seven injured in two Mosul blasts"

#3: Unknown gunmen killed a woman in eastern Mosul on Tuesday, a police source said. “Unknown gunmen on Tuesday evening (Mar. 24) killed a 34-year-old woman when they stormed her house in al-Darkazliya region in eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Police forces managed to defuse a car bomb and an improvised explosive device in central and west of Mosul, a police source said Wednesday.“Police forces on Wednesday (Mar. 25) defused a booby-trapped car during a security operation in al-Mahlabiya district in west of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: Another police force defused a local-made bomb in al-Farouq region in central Mosul,” he added.

#6: Unknown gunmen armed with pistols shot dead a policeman out of duty in aL Nigeify street in the center of Mosul, the capital cityof Nineveh province, 450 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#7: Police forces found the corpse of a civilian who belongs to the Yazidi sect, east of Mosul city, a security source from Ninewa province’s police said on Wednesday. “The dead body was found at a garden in Baasheqa district, east of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Signs of gunshot wounds were found on the corpse’s head and chest,’ he added.

#8: Three boys were killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military patrol in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Dohuk Prv:
#1: Turkish bombardment was renewed Wednesday morning, hitting villages on the border strip near the city of Zakhu, northern Duhok without causing any human casualties, but eye witnesses said that the bombing caused great fear and panic among the villagers.


Al Anbar Prv:
Haditha:
#1: Tuesday Gunmen killed a man in downtown Haditha (west of Ramadi) around 4 p.m. The man was released from Bucca prison in Basra two day ago and he was accused of killing some people in Haditha a year ago, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Australian soldiers conducting a dismounted patrol led by the Afghan National Army in Oruzgan Province, were engaged in a contact with Taliban insurgents who used an Improvised Explosive Device, Rocket Propelled Grenades and small arms fire on Tuesday, 24 March 2009. Three Australian soldiers from the Australian Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) patrol and a coalition interpreter were wounded in the engagement. Their wounds were caused by fragmentation from the Improvised Explosive Device. It is not known what caused the device to activate.

#2: One man was killed and several wounded when hundreds of people displaced by a Pakistan offensive in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan clashed with police Wednesday, officials said. Around 2,000 people chanting slogans against 'poor facilities' streamed out of their camp near Pakistan's northwestern town of Nowshera and blocked traffic on the main road, local police officer Rashid Khan told AFP. The Jallozai camp shelters around 6,000 families, or more than 30,000 people, displaced from Bajaur since the military launched an operation to purge the area of Taliban- and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, officials said. 'The protesters pelted stones and also opened fire on police,' Khan said, adding police fired tear gas and opened fire into the air to disperse the mob. The casualties were caused when 'demonstrators opened fire' on police, Khan and refugee commissioner Shah Rukh said. One person was killed and seven injured, including two policemen, Khan said. The protesters also briefly held three policemen hostage, officials said.

#3: Nine civilians were killed and seven others wounded Wednesday when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, a senior police official said. The blast occurred in Sabari district of the south-eastern province of Khost when a bus en route to provincial capital of the same name was struck by a roadside bomb, police chief Abdul Qayoom Baqizoy said. “Nine people, including a woman, were killed and seven others were wounded in the explosion,” he said, adding, “They were all innocent civilians who were travelling to Khost city.”

#4: A helicopter of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) made hard landing in Paktika province, east of Afghanistan, on Wednesday, a press release of the alliance said. "An aircraft operated and owned by an ISAF contractor made a hard landing in Paktika province due to mechanical malfunctions today," the press release said. Personnel on the aircraft suffered only minor injuries and were treated by medical personnel at the scene.

#5: NATO-led troops shot dead two Afghan farmers who were watering their land in east Afghanistan, a police chief said. The two Afghans were killed late on Tuesday just outside Khost city, east of the capital Kabul, provincial police chief Abdul Qayum Baqizoi said, adding they were innocent civilian farmers tending their land.


Casualty Reports:

Matthew Body, 23, sustained injuries that are not as bad as originally feared. He was injured this weekend in explosions that killed two of his fellow Marines. Body said he heard the troops began “fighting their way back out” when another Marine stepped on another bomb. That sent shrapnel into Matthew Body’s face. Gerald and Cindy Body got a call at about 8 a.m. Sunday that their son had been hurt in an explosion and that he was in critical condition. They found out he was in better shape than originally feared when Matthew called them at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday. He had been in surgery, and the swelling made it difficult for the Bodys even to recognize their son’s voice. “He said he looks like he went eight rounds with Mike Tyson,” Gerald Body said. “His face was swollen.”