War News for Wednesday, April 08, 2009

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier during a hostile incident in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 8th. At this time we suspect this to be an American service personal. Xinhua is reporting that the soldier was killed in an IED attack and three additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. Adam M. Kuligowski died of a non-combat related injury at the Bagram airbase, Afghanistan, on Monday, April 6th.

April 6 airpower summary:

April 5 airpower summary:

Mine-filled Iraq to accelerate clearance:

Pakistani Taliban said moving closer to capital:

Fewer airstrikes in Afghanistan mirrors tactical shift: From 2004 to 2007, the overall tonnage of munitions dropped from planes rose from 163 tons to 1,956 tons, a 1,100% increase, Air Force data show. However, the total tonnage dropped in 2008 fell to 1,314 tons, a 33% decrease.

Chopper-aid to Afghanistan:

Russia to provide 52 heavy vehicles to Afghanistan:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb left in a plastic bag exploded Wednesday near the most important Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 23, police said. The bomb exploded in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah, about 100 yards (100 meters) from the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kazim — one of the 12 Shiite saints.

#2: Around 7 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted a US convoy beneath the Nahdha high Bridge in downtown Baghdad on Wednesday. No casualties reported.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a US convoy in the New Mosul on Wednesday. No casualties reported.

#2: Around 11 a.m. clashes took place between gunmen and an American military unit in the New Mosul neighborhood on Wednesday. No casualties reported as the area was closed till having this report.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Iraqi police placed the city of Falluja in a total lockdown on Wednesday, banning traffic and pedestrians as they hunted for what they said was a group of al Qaeda militants carrying out a bombing campaign. Schools were closed, shops told to be shuttered and a curfew put in place from daybreak after explosions targeting police in the dusty city in the western desert province of Anbar, once the heartland of Sunni Islamist resistance to the U.S. invasion. Saif said a special police force from Ramadi, Anbar's other large city, had come to Falluja to reinforce its police.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Six civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Daman district of southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, Zelmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said. One civilian vehicle was hit by the bomb on a road near a NATO military base in the district, he said, adding that the second car driving behind could not brake and rammed into the first car. He said the wounded civilians, two of them in critical condition, were evacuated to a local hospital for treatment.

#2: Afghan police and U.S.-led coalition forces killed six Taliban fighters, including a commander, in a pre-dawn operation in southern Uruzgan province on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.
#3: Four employees of a construction company were wounded in an insurgent attack in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, on Tuesday, the interior ministry said.

#4: Afghan soldiers killed three insurgents after an ambush in western Farah on Tuesday, the defence ministry said. Three soldiers were wounded in the ambush.

#5: An insurgent was killed while planting a mine on a road in southeastern Khost on Tuesday, the interior ministry said.

#6: In the latest drone strike, three militants were killed when a drone fired a missile at their vehicle in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Wednesday, a security agency official and residents said.