War News for Thursday, April 09, 2009

From Wikipedia: On the road to Baghdad, a US Marine Corps (USMC) M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) lay destroyed after a firefight with Iraqi troops, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. dodmedia.osd.mil (click to enlarge)



Shia rally marks anniversary of fall of Baghdad:

'US behind recent Iraq bomb attacks'

Corruption Undercuts U.S. Hope for Afghan Police:

On the case in Tora Bora:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Around 11 a.m. a magnetic bomb attached to a civilian car detonated in Saidiyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad on Thursday. Eight people were wounded.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: One civilian on Thursday was killed and three others were wounded in an explosive charge blast that occured in downtown Baaquba city, according to a local police source. “A sticky improvised explosive device (IED) went off inside a civilian vehicle in al-Ameen neighborhood, downtown Baaquba, killing one civilian and wounding three others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Al Saadiya:
#1: Police forces on Thursday found two bodies of a woman and her daughter in the northeast of Baaquba, a security source said. “Police forces on Thursday morning (April 9) found the bodies of a woman and her daughter near Rabieya village in al-Saadiya district, south of Khaneqeen, northeast of Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that they had been kidnapped on Wednesday (April 8) in Jalawlaa district, west of Khaneqeen.


Amarra:
#1: A roadside bomb on Thursday went off targeting a police patrol in northern Amara city, without causing any casualties, said a source from Missan province’s police. “The incident took place in al-Moalimeen neighborhood, northern Amara,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion caused no casualties, but damaged the patrol’s vehicle,” he said.


Irbil:
#1: One civilian on Wednesday was shot down by unknown gunmen near a popular market in downtown Arbil city, according to a local police source. “On Wednesday, unidentified gunmen killed a civilian near a used clothes market in central Arbil,” Brig. Abdulkhaliq Talaat told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off on Thursday in central Kirkuk, targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol, a police source said. “The bomb exploded while a U.S. vehicle patrol was passing near the Kirkuk council building,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion caused no casualties or material damage,” he added, without giving further details.


Mosul:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Wednesday targeted an army patrol in Mosul city, causing no casualties, according to a local police source. “The explosion occurred in al-Hadbaa neighborhood,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that no casualties were reported.

#2: One civilian on Wednesday was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) that targeted his vehicle in Mosul city, according to a security source. “The civilian died when the explosive charge detonated inside his vehicle in al-Quds neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: One civilian on Wednesday was killed and another was wounded by U.S. fire in Mosul city, according to a local security source. “The incident occurred in al-Mosul al-Jadida area, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, providing no further details.

#4: Four mortar shells hit Badoush prison in the west of Mosul, a police source said on Thursday. “The shells, launched on Wednesday night (April 8), exploded near the external fence of the jail,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

5: A civilian was killed by two gunmen in western Mosul on Thursday, a police source said. “Two unknown gunmen shot and killed a civilian in al-Senaa al-Qadeema region in western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three Sahwa council fighters on Wednesday were wounded in an explosive charge blast the occurred in Anbar province, according to a local police chief. “The roadside device, which went off in Halibaja village (3 km east of al-Karma district), wounded a Sahwa leader in Falluja, Naeem Saleh Abullah, who was on his way back home, as well as two of his guards,” Lt. Col. Hatif Mohammed told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The father of a seven-day-old boy said on Thursday his infant son died in an overnight raid by Afghan and U.S. forces, with the U.S. saying it was investigating the claim. A female school teacher was also killed and the child's mother wounded, the father said, during the raid in Ali Daya village in Khost province, where Taliban fighters are active. The U.S. military said in a statement it was aware of allegations the raid had caused "non-combatant casualties" and was investigating. Janat Gul, the boy's father, told Reuters he was not at home when the raid happened and was not sure how his newborn child died. His son did not have any bullet wounds but he had died during the raid, Gul said. Earlier, U.S. forces released a statement saying they had killed four militants, including two women, after they came under fire when approaching a house in Ali Daya. Gul said four adults died, but none were militants, and one of the women was a schoolteacher.

#2: A suicide bomber on foot attacked a police drug eradication unit in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing four officers and a child and wounding seven other officers, police said. The attacker struck the patrol in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, a major drug-producing area, said Kamal Uddin, the deputy provincial police chief. Two police vehicles and three shops were damaged in the explosion, Uddin said. He initially said five policemen were killed, but later said one of those killed was a child.

#3: Separately, six alleged militants were killed and another detained in a coalition operation in the southern province of Kandahar late Wednesday, the coalition said.

#4: Police say an officer has been shot dead in southwestern Pakistan during rioting triggered by the discovery of the bodies of three missing political dissidents. Ghulam Ali Lashari, a senior police official, says the officer was fatally wounded Thursday when protesters opened fire in Khuzdar, a town in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province. Police say the mutilated bodies of three ethnic Baluch nationalists.

#5: Security forces and Taliban militants exchanged fire late on Wednesday, hours after a missile fired by a pilotless U.S. drone killed three militants near Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border. Residents said the two sides exchanged rifle, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire but there were no reports of casualties.


Casualty Reports:

Steven Bohn ,22, is recovering from a suicide bomb attack carried out in a dump truck loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives. The Nov. 6 blast was powerful enough to blow a guard out of a tower at the 101st Airborne's remote camp in a mountainous region near the Pakistan border and to kill two officers in a nearby Afghan police station. He suffered broken ribs and a broken nose, kidney damage, torn ligaments in his right thumb, and spinal injuries that required surgery. His right leg is partially numb, necessitating the brace and cane.