News of the Day for Sunday, May 31, 2009

A worker adjusts a valve of an oil pipe at Taq Taq oil field in Arbil, 310 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad May 30, 2009. The oil companies developing Taq Taq oil field in Iraq's northern Kurdish region expect to boost current production of 40,000 barrels per day to 60,000 bpd by November, officials from one of the companies said on Saturday. Picture taken May 30, 2009. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ CONFLICT ENERGY BUSINESS) Kurdistan plans to begin exporting this oil on Monday, much to the displeasure of the central Iraqi government. See below. -- C

Reported Security Incidents

Mosul

IED attack on an Iraqi army patrol kills an officer and a soldier, injures a civilian.

Three bystanders wounded in IED attack on an Iraqi army patrol on Saturday. I believe this was reported too late to make it into Whisker's post.

Basra

A man is injured by a land mine. Aswat al-Iraq notes "There are a large number of landmine fields to the west and east of Basra left from previous wars in Iraq. The victims are mostly civilians, particularly women and children who shepherd in these areas and also search among the scraps for copper and aluminum to sell in order to eke out a living." (I haven't found any information that an effort is being made to clean up this problem. - C)

Samarra

IED attack on a police patrol kills 4 police officers, injures 2.

Thi Qar

Security forces defuse a bomb placed on the railway. The device consisted of an unstated number of 60 caliber mortar shells.

Near Baquba

A six year old child is shot dead by unknown assailants near his house on Saturday. Police believe the motive may be that his father is an Awakening Council member.

Jalawla

Four Iraqi soldiers injured by roadside bomb.

Other News of the Day

Former Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani, wanted on corruption charges, is arrested after trying to flee the country. He was aboard a flight to Dubai when police realized he was on it and ordered the pilot to return to Baghdad. Among other crimes, Sudani is charged with having supplied spoiled food rations to poor Iraqis.

Iraqi Kurdistan to begin oil exports on Monday despite objections from the central government. This is, obviously, not a positive development for those hoping for a unified Iraq. Excerpt from the DPA story:

The government in Baghdad has repeatedly said it does not recognise the legitimacy of the Kurdish export contracts.

'Iraq's oil ministry considers the contracts signed by the Kurdish government with the international oil companies illegitimate and illegal,' Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told Iraqi state television two weeks ago.

[Taqtaq oil company official Mohammed] Okotan said the oil fields at Taqtaq produce about 50,000 barrels of oil per day, 10,000 of which go to the local market. The other 40,000 will travel by tanker truck to Kirkuk, and from there to Ceyhan, Turkey, via pipeline.

WaPo's Anthony Shadid discusses the impact of the U.S. occupation on Iraqi culture. This is often quite droll -- C Excerpt:

All occupations eventually end. When this one does, history's narratives will be shaped by the cacophony it wrought — the carnage unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion that threatened Iraq's notion of itself as a country and that will haunt generations to come.

But the whispers may linger just as long — the far quieter way in which two cultures that often found it difficult to share the same space intersected to reshape Iraq's language, culture and sensibility. From tattoos of Metallica to bellybutton piercings, from posters for a rap concert in Baghdad to stories parents tell their naughty children in Fallujah of the Americans coming to get them, the occupation has already left its mark.

There is the bellicose language of the checkpoint: "Go" and "Stop" (often rendered as "stob" in a language with no "p"), along with a string of American expletives that Iraqi children imitate with zeal. In parks along the Tigris River, they play "tafteesh," Arabic for inspection. Iraqi troops, sometimes indistinguishable from their U.S. counterparts, don the sunglasses considered effeminate in the time of Saddam Hussein.

Afghanistan Update

Taliban attack a paramilitary camp near the Afghanistan border in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Pakistani army claims 40 Taliban and 4 government forces were killed in the fighting.

According to an AP report, Afghan and NATO forces claim to have killed 18 Taliban Khaki Safed, Farah, though sources give varying numbers. Also, 4 Afghan police killed elsewhere in Farah in an attack on a checkpoint. Quqnoos in particular gives differing casualty numbers for these incidents, 12 militants killed in the first one, 6 (not 4) police killed in the second.

Leaders of parties representing Hazara and Uzbek ethnic groups say they will back Karzai for re-election.

Two British soldiers killed in Helmand on Saturday in a bomb attack, details not disclosed.

Quote of the Day

In April 2003, North Korea drew the obvious conclusion from the US and British aggression against Iraq. The war showed, it commented at the time, "that to allow disarmament through inspections does not help avert a war, but rather sparks it". Only "a tremendous military deterrent force", it stated with unavoidable logic, could prevent attacks on states the world's only superpower was determined to bring to heel.

The lesson could not be clearer. Of Bush's "axis" states, Iraq, which had no weapons of mass destruction, was invaded and occupied; North Korea, which already had some nuclear capacity, was left untouched and is most unlikely to be attacked in future; while Iran, which has yet to develop a nuclear capability, is still threatened with aggression by both the US and Israel.

Seumas Milne

War News for Saturday, May 30, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition forces Soldier in a grenade attack in an undisclosed location in Ninewa Province on Friday, May 29th.


May 27 airpower summary:

UK admits use of controversial weapons in Afghanistan:

Gunmen target Ahmadinejad election office:


Reported Security incidents:





Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was killed and three others wounded on Saturday when a bomb exploded as they were on patrol in Diyala province, one of Iraq's most dangerous areas, a military official said. The improvised device blew up to the south of the provincial capital of Baquba, the local official told AFP.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani troops have retaken the largest town in the Swat Valley from the Taliban as the army presses its offensive against militants in the country's northwest, the army spokesman said Saturday. Government forces had full control of Mingora, though they were still meeting pockets of resistance from fighters on the outskirts of the town, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press.

#2: Four civilians were killed and a provincial governor wounded in two separate bomb blasts in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said. The civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed when a roadside bomb, similar to those used by Taliban insurgents, struck their vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar, police said. "Four civilians, one of them a five-year-old child were killed when a bomb hit their car in Khakriz district," police official Afzal Khan said.

#3: A provincial governor and his driver were wounded in a similar attack in northeast Afghanistan which was blamed on the Taliban, an intelligence official said. Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar was returning from neighbouring Takhar province when a remote-controlled bomb struck his vehicle, said local intelligence chief Abdul Majeed Azimi. "Along the road a remote-control mine struck his vehicle, injuring him and his driver slightly," Azimi said, adding the two men were hospitalised with "slight injuries".

#3: Three paratroopers of the "Folgore" brigade, 183th "Nembo" regiment of the Italian army, were injured this morning near Bala Murgab, in Afghanistan, during a joint operation with the Afghan army. The three men are not in life danger. Regional Command West issued a note from Herat base: "The rebels attacked Afghan army patrols and later opened fire also against the Italian military". During the operation three Afghan soldiers were killed and four more were injured. 25 rebels were killed too.

Three Italian paratroopers were injured in western Afghanistan on Friday in a violent firefight which left 25 insurgents dead, defense ministry sources said. The battle started when a joint Italian-Afghan army patrol came under attack in the area of Bala Morgab. None of the soldiers from the Folgore Brigade suffered serious injury. One was said to have hurt his foot jumping from his vehicle, another received some shrapnel wounds, while the third suffered a concussion when an anti-tank grenade exploded near him. Three Afghan soldiers were also killed, while four others were injured and four insurgents captured.

#4: Yesterday two Italian Navy AB-212 helicopters had been attacked that took off from Bala Murgab base had been attacked with light weapons".

Friday's attack was not far from where an Italian military helicopter, carrying General Rosario Castellano, the commander of allied forces in western Afghanistan, came under machine-gun fire on Thursday.

#5: Afghan policemen identified and shot dead two suicide bombers who were trying to enter the Guzara district of western Helmand province overnight, the Interior Ministry said.

#6: Taliban insurgents fighting Afghan and the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, attacked a supplying convoy in the southern Zabul province, killing four drivers and set on fire 10 trucks, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said Friday. "A group of Taliban militants attacked a convoy of trucks in Shinkai district Thursday evening, killing four truckers and burning 10 trucks," Sarjang told Xinhua. All the victims were Afghans, he said.

War News for Friday, May 29, 2009

Oil hits new 6-month high above $65:

Iran Begins Construction For Natural Gas Pipeline:

Turkey ready to contribute to energy industry in Iraq:

Area soldier killed: Spc. Chad Edmundson, 20, died Wednesday in Iraq:

UN expert: US failing to properly probe war crimes:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Palestine Street, northeast Baghdad at 11 a.m. Thursday. No casualties were reported.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A local leader of a government-backed Sunni paramilitary group was killed Friday in a bombing as he opened his butcher store northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. Khazal al-Sammaraie was killed and six other people were wounded in the explosion of the bomb, which was hidden on a motorcycle parked near the store on the outskirts of Baqouba, police said.

#2: The house of a displaced Shiite family was blown up in Amin neighbourhood, central Baquba at 3 p.m. Friday. The family has just repaired the house that was previously damaged and were about to return to their neighbourhood.

Khalis:
#1: Six civilians were killed on Friday in a roadside bomb blast in north of Baaquba city, a police source said. “An improvised explosive device went off Friday (May 29) targeting a police vehicle patrol in central Khales district, north of Baaquba, killing six civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A bomb attached to a minibus killed six civilians in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A bomb attached to a car in Khalis killed one person and wounded three others, police said.


Basra:
#1: Several Katyusha rockets targeted the U.S. military base near the Basra International Airport on Tuesday night. It is the first rocket attack against the base since the withdrawal of the British forces. The attack caused no casualties or damages said a U.S. military spokesman. Meanwhile, three other rockets which were ready to be fired were found by Iraqi security forces in Abu Skhair in the northern outskirts of Basra city.


Salahuddin Prv:
#1: Iraqi security forces were able to defuse an IED that contains 100 tons of TNT put inside an Oxygen cylinder planted on the side of the main route between Tikrit and Kirkuk.


Sulaimaniya Prv:
#1: Two children were killed and four other members of the same family were wounded in an explosive charge blast in southern Sulaimaniya on Friday, according to a security source. “Two children were killed and four others, all from one family, were injured Friday (May 29) when an improvised explosive device went off in Ghawam village in south of Qurat Taba in Kafri district in southern Sulaimaniya,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Makhmour:
#1: Police forces on Friday found two bodies of a man and a woman in a house at Takh village, southwestern Makhmour suburb, according to a security source. “The man is 35 years and the woman is 45 years,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The two corpses were found in a house at Takh village, 15 km north of al-Ghwer district (45 km southwest of Makhmour),” he said. “The bodies bore signs of gunshot wounds,” he added.


Mosul:
#1: A woman and her daughter were killed by gunmen in an incident the third of its kind in a matter of 10 days in the city of Mosul, a Ninewa police source said on Thursday. “Unidentified gunmen stormed a house in the area of al-Atshana, eastern Mosul, on Thursday, killing a woman and her daughter before they managed to escape to an unknown place,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A roadside bomb detonated under control by police on the main route that links Mosul with Baghdad on Thursday evening. No casualties reported.

#2: Gunmen targeting a U.S military patrol with a hand grenade wounded one civilian in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Sinjar:
#1: Five civilians were wounded Friday in clashes with security forces in Sinjar district in Ninewa, the mayor of the district said. “Five civilians were injured Friday (May 29) in clashes with security forces while attempting to arrest them,” Dakheel Qassem told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: U. S.-led coalition troops attacked a suspected training camp for foreign fighters in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, and an Afghan official said 34 militants were killed, including 22 Arabs and Pakistanis. Among the dead were six who blew up their suicide vests during the battle, the U. S. coalition said. The raid on the heavily guarded compound in Paktika province. At least six insurgents wearing suicide vests blew themselves up during the battle, and one coalition member was wounded in the assault, the U. S. military said in a statement. Afghan authorities said they recovered 34 bodies, including 22 Arabs and Pakistanis, said Hamidullah Zuhak, a spokesman for Paktika's governor. They found personal documents on the bodies of those killed, he said.

#2: Unknown gunmen have abducted a Turkish engineer in eastern Afghanistan, police said Friday. The unidentified man was captured Thursday as he was returning to his guesthouse in the eastern town of Khost, provincial police chief Abdul Qayoum Baqizoi told AFP. It was not known who had captured him or why, the official said. The engineer had been working on building a hospital in the area.

#3: A bomb planted by anti-government militants hit a police van in west Afghanistan wounding eight policemen, a local official said Friday. "It was Thursday night when a mine planted by the rebels struck a police vehicle in Shindand district injuring eight police constables and one officer," Lal Mohammad the district chief of Shindand told Xinhua. Two of the injured policemen are in critical condition, he further said.

War News for Thursday, May 28, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of an ISAF Marine at Selly Oak Hospital, England on Wednesday, May 27th. The Marine was wounded by a roadside bombing near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 22nd.

The BBC is reporting the death of a second British ISAF soldier in a roadside bombing near Garmsir in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Thursday, May 28th


May 26 airpower summary:

2 killed in helicoptercrash in Hawaii:

Deadliest month in Iraq since Sept. 2008:

Forces welcome recruitment rise:

Report: Iraq prisoner abuse photos depict torture, rape:


Reported Security incidents:

Diwaniya:
#1: A member of the Diwaniya provincial council was killed on Thursday by unknown gunmen in north of Diwaniya, a police source said. “Unidentified armed men on Thursday morning (May 28) killed Jawad Khaled Gayad, a member of the Diwaniya council, in al-Sanieh district in north of Diwaniya,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Northern Iraq:
#1: Turkish warplanes attacked Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq Thursday, the military said, hours after a land mine blast on the Turkish side of the border killed six soldiers. A military statement said the jets targeted a "crowded group" of rebels in the Iraqi border region of Avasin-Basyan before safely returning to bases in Turkey. There was no information on any casualties.


Mosul:
#1: Three civilians were wounded on Thursday in a bomb explosion in northern Mosul, a police source said. “An improvised explosive device went off Thursday (May 28) targeting a motorcade of the Ninewa council in al-Jameaa neighborhood in northern Mosul, injuring three civilians from the same family, including a 3-year-old child,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan official and the U.S. military say joint security forces in southeastern Afghanistan have attacked a gathering of militants, but there are conflicting reports about how many people were killed. A spokesman for the governor of Paktika province on Thursday said Afghan police and NATO troops launched a ground operation and air strikes in Wor Mamay district near the Pakistani border overnight, killing 34 Taliban militants. A U.S military spokesman confirmed the battle but said 29 insurgents had been killed. He said one soldier from the NATO-led coalition was wounded in the operation.

#2: Ten insurgents were killed in a clash with police on Wednesday in northwestern Badghis province after staging an attack on a government building, the interior ministry said.

#3: Insurgents killed four employees of a demining agency in an ambush on Thursday in western Herat province, a provincial police officer said.

#4: Afghan police killed three militants during a clash on Wednesday in southern Kandahar province, the ministry separately said. One police officer was killed in the encounter.

#5: Four Taliban fighters were killed on Wednesday after they attacked police posts in western Farah province, the interior ministry said. One police officer was wounded.

#6: Four Taliban militants were killed in a clash after they ambushed a security firm convoy in the Arzoo area of Ghazni province on Wednesday, a provincial official said. One member of the company was hurt in the incident, he added.

#7: Separately on Thursday, two members of a security firm were killed and two wounded in a Taliban ambush in Qarabagh district of Ghanzi. One Afghan Army soldier was also killed and two more wounded in a clash with insurgents.

#8: Insurgents on Wednesday killed two influential figures from Ghazni province, which lies to the southwest of Kabul, after they were accused of siding with the government, the Interior Ministry said, without identifying the victims.

#9: Five civilians and one foreign soldier were wounded on Wednesday in a suicide car bomb attack in Ghazni, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#10: An Afghan army soldier was killed and three were hurt during an operation in southern Uruzgan province, the Interior Ministry said.

#11: In last 24 hours, seven militants were killed in Pakistan's northwest, said the military in a press release Thursday.

#12: A convoy of eight army trucks carrying relief and food destined for Chakdarra, Barikot and Mingora got ambushed near Landa Kai near Barikot, according to the military. Four security forces personnel were killed in the incident, it said. Despite that, the relief goods were distributed among stranded people of Mingora, the main city and Taliban stronghold in Swat.

#13: Several people were feared dead as a house collapsed following a huge blast Thursday at a southwestern Pakistani town of Sui. The official APP news agency quoted police sources as saying that unknown miscreants had planted explosive materials along the boundary wall of the residence of Wadera Mian Khan Bugti, a local tribal elder, which exploded with a loud bang resulting in instant collapse of the house. Six people including women and children are reported to have been buried under the rubble of the house.

War News for Wednesday, May 27, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, May 27th. No other details were released.


May 25 airpower summary:

May 24 airpower summary:

Iraqi Kurdish oil exports to start Sunday:

Iraq oil exports increase in April:

Suicides continue to rise at Fort Campbell:

Civilians suffer in Pakistan army war on Taliban:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Around 3 p.m. a car bomb detonated in Mahmoudiyah town (south of Baghdad) on Tuesday. Three people were wounded.

#2: Around 9 p.m. a mortar round hit Al-Fidheiliya neighborhood in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday. Eight people were wounded.

#3: Two civilians were wounded on Wednesday in a bomb explosion in central Baghdad, a police source said. “An explosive charge, planted by unknown gunmen, went off Wednesday (May 27) in Sahet al-Houriya in central Baghdad, injuring two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A roadside bomb targeted the motorcade of a high ranking official in Karrada, central Baghdad at 9 a.m. Wednesday injuring two civilians and damaging one civilian car.


Iskandariya:
#1: One civilian was wounded when a car bomb went off to the north of Hilla city, a security source from Babel province’s police said on Tuesday. “The incident took place today at noon,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The car was parked near the Rafidain Bank branch at al-Iskandariya district, 50 km north of Hilla,” he said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Iraqi officials say at least 15 civilians have been wounded in a car bombing near a medical compound west of Baghdad. Police and hospital officials say the explosives-laden car was parked near a compound that houses several clinics in the town of Abu Ghraib. The officials gave the casualty toll on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Four civilians on Wednesday were killed and 10 others were wounded when a car rigged with explosives went off in the capital Baghdad, according to a police source. “This afternoon, a car bomb detonated near a popular market in Abu Ghraib area, western Baghdad, killing four civilians and injuring 10 others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A parked car bomb exploded in an open air marker in Abu Ghraib area just as a U.S. military convoy drove away, at around noon Wednesday. The explosion injured 15 civilians.


Mosul:
#1: Two policemen were wounded on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in western Mosul city, a police source said. “An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday (May 26) targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Shefaa neighborhood in western Mosul, injuring two policemen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed one solider in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

#3: A women was killed in cross fire between the Iraqi army and gunmen in Mosul on Tuesday, police said

#4: Gunmen shot dead a man in a drive-by shooting near his house in eastern Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Four policemen were wounded on Wednesday in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Falluja, a police source said. “An explosive charge went off on Wednesday (May 27) targeting a police vehicle patrol in Karamat al-Falluja district in eastern Falluja, injuring four policemen, including a captain,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen detonated a car bomb near police and intelligence agency offices in Lahore on Wednesday, killing about 30 people and wounding at least 250 in one of Pakistan's deadliest attacks this year, officials said. At least four men with rifles stepped from the car and opened fire on the intelligence agency building, then set off a massive blast when security guards returned fire, officials said. The spy agency and police building were both badly damaged. An AP reporter saw dozens of troops entering the spy agency building to supervise the rescue work, while gunshots were heard from inside the building even one hour after the blast.

#2: A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed four civilians. The bomb struck the civilian's vehicle and also wounded three civilians inside in Zabul province, said Jalani Khan, a provincial police official. He blamed the Taliban for planting the bomb.

#3: The Afghan and US militaries said they killed four Al-Qaeda-linked militants and detained 10 others on Wednesday during operations against extremist insurgents. The suspects were killed when troops raided compounds looking for members of the radical Haqqani network in Logar province, south of the capital Kabul, they said in a joint statement. The ‘combined force raided a compound to capture a Haqqani commander responsible for planning improvised explosive device attacks and facilitating suicide bombers,’ it said.

#4: The US-led force said its troops killed an Afghan driver who ignored warnings to stop his vehicle when approaching soldiers in Khost on Tuesday.

#5: Unknown gunmen Wednesday ambushed and killed Mohammad Nadir, district chief of Omna, in eastern Afghan province of Paktika, said a statement of Interior Ministry. 　

A roadside bomb killed a district chief and three of his sons on Wednesday in southeastern Paktika province, provincial police chief said.

#6: As many as 12 militants were killed in various areas of Swat in North West Frontier Province in the last 24 hours, the army said in a statement on Wednesday. One soldier lost his life and three other soldiers were injured in clashes with militants, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations Athar Abbas said in the statement.

#7: One Afghan civilian was killed and 11 more wounded when a missile landed in a farming area on Wednesday in eastern Kunar province, a provincial health official said.

War News for Tuesday, May 26, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of three people in a roadside bombing an undisclosed location near Fallujah, Iraq on Monday, May 25th. Two additional people were wounded in the attack. Because the military is releasing the names of the dead we will count these people in our casualty data base. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that one of the dead is a state department official Terry Branch, a former Illinois Commerce Commission chairman and chief counsel to former Gov. Jim Thompson. The AFP is reporting that the dead includes a soldier a civilian employee of the State Department and a Defence Department worker.

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 26th. Numerous news articles state that a suicide bomber attacked the NATO convoy in Kapisa province which also left three Afghani civilians dead. We will assume these to be American soldiers.


May 23 airpower summary:

Turkish soldier killed in PKK clash in eastern province:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Monday Around 4 p.m. a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in New Baghdad neighborhood in eastern Baghdad on Monday. No casualties reported.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Police forces on Monday found a mass grave of victims executed by al-Qaeda gunmen in the west of Baaquba, a media source said. “A mass grave of eight corpses was found in al-Katoun neighborhood in west of Baaquba on Monday (May 25),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The eight decayed bodies bore signs of gunshot wounds,” he noted.


Kirkuk:
#1: “During an early hour on Tuesday morning, unknown gunmen shot down a taxi driver in front of his house in al-Orouba neighborhood, southern Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “Meanwhile, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a vehicle belonging to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense near a cotton gin on a main road in southern Kirkuk, wounding three army personnel, including two officers and one soldier,” Col. Ghazi Ali, a police chief in al-Muqdad police, said.

#3: Gunmen killed three members of a family during a raid on their house in a village southwest of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad on Monday, police said


Mosul:
#1: “One civilian was killed on Monday (May 25) by gunmen in Mosul al-Jadieda region in western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “An explosive charge went off on Monday targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol in Tal al-Rouman region in western Mosul, wounding a passing civilian,” the same source said.

#3: An Iraqi soldier was killed by a sniper in Tahrir neighborhood in eastern Mosul on Monday afternoon.

#4: Monday A roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in tal Al-Ruman in western Mosul in the afternoon. One Iraqi civilian was wounded with no casualties on the American side.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A two month old infant was killed, and his while his parents and older brother were wounded, in the Julan neighborhood of Falluja on Saturday night. A grenade was thrown on the roof of that family’s house. The family was sleeping on the roof at the time.

#2: Around noon gunmen attacked a civilian car in the Awisat area (about 17 miles east of Falluja) on Monday. A man and his wife were killed.

#3: Around 4 p.m. a roadside bomb targeted a police commando’s patrol on the high of southern Falluja on Monday. One vehicle was totally damaged, but no further information released of the number of casaulties as the area was blocked by police till the having this report.

#4: Police forces on Tuesday discovered a mass grave of seven unknown corpses in a border region in western Anbar, according to a security source. “A detained man unveiled the presence of a mass grave of seven unidentified bodies killed by armed groups more than two years ago in western Anbar,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: One roadside bomb targeted a police van patrolling in Tank district, near the tribal area of South Waziristan, a rugged frontier terrain on the border with Afghanistan believed to be a hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants. "At least two policemen were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a remote controlled device planted along the roadside in northwestern Tank town on Tuesday," a local police official said.

#2: In the nearby region of Dera Ismail Khan, a hand grenade was lobbed into the home of a Shiite family, killing one man and wounding three others, a police official in the region said.

#3: On Monday, gunmen shot dead three Shiite labourers in an attack local officials said could have been motivated by sectarian tensions.

#4: A Dutch military vehicle has hit an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. One soldier was slightly injured in the blast. The explosion occurred near Deh Rawod, which is home to a small Dutch base.

#5: Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked Taliban positions in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing six militants, intelligence officials and residents said. The army sent in its helicopters shortly after militants fired rockets at a paramilitary force base in Siblatoi town, 60 km east of Waziristan's main town of Wana. ‘The helicopter gunships are still attacking and so far six militants have been killed and 14 wounded,’ said an intelligence agency official in the area said, adding that ground troops had secured the nearby village of Chakmali.

#6: Eight Taliban fighters are dead after battling US coalition troops in southern Afghanistan.
The coalition says two of its troops and three Afghan policemen were also wounded during Monday’s clash in the southern province of Uruzgan. They were undergoing medical treatment and were in stable condition. The troops were on patrol when Taliban fighters attacked them with small arms fire and heavy machine-guns.

War News for Monday, May 25, 2009

Expatica is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head at an undisclosed location south of Kabol on Sunday, May 24th.


Airpower Summary for May 22, 2009:

Iraqi killed U.S. soldier bailed out by court:

Insurgents prepare to battle Iraqi government:

Afghan floods kill 94:

Pakistan Says It Makes More Gains on Taliban:

U.S. soldiers' options limited to protect Afghans from Taliban: (And who can protect the Afghani people from the Americans? -- whisker)

North Korea Announces 2nd Test of Nuclear Device:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Around 4 a.m. a police force raided a house in alGhadeer area in east Baghdad. When the force reached the suspected house, insurgents inside it started shooting. Police responded to the fire killing two insurgents including a Syrian man and arresting another four insurgents. Police also captured two car bombs, bombs and other weapons.

#2: Around 10 a.m. an IED detonated in Adil neighborhood in west Baghdad targeting the US military. US military confirmed the incident saying there were no casualties associated with the event.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Four policemen were injured by a roadside bomb north of Baquba city around 9 a.m.

#2: Iraqi police found the corpses of six civilians in Uthmaniyah area south west Baquba city.


Suweiyra:
#1: Three car bombs on Sunday were found during a security operation in northern Wassit province, according to a local police chief. “On Sunday, a Quick Response Department (QRD) force raided a terrorist hideout in al-Suweira district (135 km north of Kut),” the commander of the department, Maj. Aziz Lateef al-Amara told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Three Toyota sedans rigged with explosives were found during the operation, in addition to remote controls and materials used in the manufacturing of explosive devices,” the major added.


Mosul:
#1: Six plastic bags containing TNT explosives were discovered under a bridge in southern Mosul city, a local security source said on Sunday. “Forces from Ninewa police found the explosive material under a bridge between Albo Youssuf village and Hamam al-Aleel district, southern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Three female students were wounded on Monday in an armed attack in western Mosul, according to a security source. “An unknown gunman opened fire on three female students while leaving their school in 17 Tamouz neighborhood in western Mosul on Monday (May 25), injuring them,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The son of former Belfast Lord Mayor Bob Stoker has been seriously injured in an explosion in Afghanistan. Michael Stoker, a soldier in the Queen's Royal Hussars, was hurt in an explosion in Helmand Province on Friday. The 22-year-old's vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. Two other soldiers were also injured.

War News for Sunday, May 24, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in a roadside bombing near Sangin, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Saturday, May 23rd.

Airpower Summary for May 21, 2009:

Official: Swine flu-infected U.S. troops leave Kuwait:

Former Iraqi insurgent contemplates returning to war:

Pakistan and Taliban Battling for Key City:

Guantánamo Closing Hands Republicans a Wedge Issue:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: One policeman and two civilians were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) in northern Baghdad on Sunday, police said. “An IED planted by unidentified persons on the main road in al-Dalal Square, al-Aadhamiya area, northern Baghdad, went off near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding one policeman and two civilians,” a security source in Baghdad told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A roadside bomb detonated in Khurnabat village (about 4 miles north of Baquba) while insurgents were about to plant it. Two of them were killed.

Buhriz:
#1: Gunmen killed a 6 year old son of Sahwa leader in Abu Khamees (south of Buhriz about 3 miles south of Baquba) around 10 a.m.

Jalawlaa:
#1: Two civilians were killed and three others wounded when they came under unidentified gunmen fire in the district of Jalawlaa, Diala province, on Saturday, a local security source said. “Unknown gunmen opened fire today (May 23) on a group of civilians in Tabaj area, Jalawlaa, (30 km) southwest of Khanaqin district, leaving two killed and three others wounded, two of them in a critical condition,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Iskandariya:
#1: Gunmen opened fire on a government-backed Sunni militia checkpoint on Saturday night, wounding one fighter in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: A suicide car bombing which targeted a U.S. military patrol in a busy shopping street of Iraq's troubled northern city of Mosul Sunday wounded 34 people, some of them critically, officials said. "A suicide bombing aimed at a U.S. army patrol in Al-Dawasa district resulted in 34 wounded," a local police official told AFP. There were no immediate reports of Iraqi or U.S. military casualties in the powerful blast which struck a busy downtown city street full of shops.

#2: Policemen in Ninewa defused four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in two separate operations in Mosul city on Saturday, a security source in the province said.

#3: Gunmen stormed a family home and shot dead a woman and her daughter in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: Gunmen shot dead a Kurdish woman in her home in eastern Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: A senior officer survived an attempt on his life with an improvised explosive device (IED) that targeted him in a village of the Karmat al-Falluja district on Saturday, an official security source said. “An IED target Lt. Colonel Abad Sallam Khawaf, who was returning to the al-Shahid police station in the village of al-Qanater, Karmat al-Falluja district, eastern Falluja city, but escaped the attempt,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “No casualties were reported in the blast,” he added, not giving more information.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban insurgents fighting Afghan government stormed a district in Takhar province northeast Afghanistan in the wee hours of Sunday, police said. "It was around 1:00 a.m. this morning that Taliban rebels attacked Baharak district but police encountered forcing them to flee," provincial police chief Ziaudin Mahmoudi told Xinhua. He also added that police inflicted casualties on Taliban insurgents but did not give exact figure. Meantime, a Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid from unknown location told media that four police were killed in the firefight lasting for a while. This is the first time that Taliban insurgents carried out attack against a district in the northern part of Afghanistan.

#2: Pakistani troops battling the Taliban have captured several points in the Swat Valley's main town, the army said Sunday, including a spot nicknamed "bloody intersection" because militants routinely dumped the mutilated bodies of their victims there.

#3: Elsewhere in the northwest, helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a tribal region, killing at least 18 people, while police said they had captured an important militant commander and six other Taliban fighters.

#4: An Afghan civilian died of wounds from a U.S.-led airstrike, which was supporting NATO-led forces in Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the alliance said in a statement. The civilian was suspected of planting an explosive device but an investigation later determined he was not an insurgent, the statement added.

#5: An explosion rocked Kandahar city the former stronghold of Taliban in south Afghanistan, killing at least two police on Sunday. "It was at 12 a.m. local time (0730 GMT) when a remote-controlled bomb aimed at targeting police van in Dorahi area of Kandahar city killing two police and injuring two others," eye witnesses at the site of blast told Xinhua. Meantime, a statement of Interior Ministry released here said that one civilian was killed and four others including a police were injured.

War News for Saturday, May 23, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms-fire / gunshot wound near Sangin in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 22nd.

The Washington Post is reporting the death of an American DoD civilian in a rocket mortar attack on the international green zone in Baghdad, Iraq on Friday, May 22nd.

The Washington Post is reporting the death of a second American civilian who was apparently killed and left in a car in the international green zone in Baghdad on Friday, May 22nd. No other details were released. -- CNN American found blindfolded, stabbed in Baghdad.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Corps - Iraq soldier in a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location in Baghdad on Friday, May 22nd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in a non-hostile helicopter crash near Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 22nd. We assume this to be an American soldier.


May 20 airpower summary:

S.A. man is killed in Afghanistan blast:

Daily Kos: Afghanistan - the myth they attacked us, some consequences:

Pakistan Claims More Gains Against Taliban:

Four PKK rebels killed in SE Turkey: military:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A mortar round hit the Green Zone at 9 a.m. Saturday. No casualties were reported.
A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Husseiniyah neighbourhood, northeastern

#2: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Husseiniyah neighbourhood, northeastern Baghdad at noon Saturday. The explosion caused material damages to a Hummer vehicle said Iraqi Police. No casualties were reported.


Diyala Prv:
Bahraz:
#1: Police forces on Saturday found the body of the son of a Sahwa council leader two days after he was kidnapped in southern Baaquba city, according to a local police source. “The body was found in Abbara Bahraz area, nearly 5 km south of Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Ur:
#1: Two rockets on Saturday fell near the archeological city of Ur, Nassiriya province, but no casualties were reported, according to a statement released by the Multi-National Force (MNF).
“On Saturday morning, two rockets were launched from Albo Fayyad area (10 km south of Nassiriya city) near the archeological temple in Ur city,” read the statement that was received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Ishaqi:
#1: Two unidentified bodies were found in Ishaqi district Saturday. There was evidence of torture and several gun fire wounds in the heads and in other parts of the bodies.


Tikrit:
#1: An Iraqi civilians was shot down by U.S. soldiers after opening fire at a U.S. patrol on Friday, an Iraqi police source in Tikrit said. “An Iraqi civilian man opened fire from his Kalashnikov assault rifle he took out from his vehicle while a U.S. patrol of several Humvee vehicles were passing by in al-Qadissiya neighborhood, northern Tikrit,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The man opened fire at the patrolmen who fired back, killing him instantly,” he added.


Mosul:
#1: A police officer on Saturday was wounded in an explosive device blast in southern Mosul city, according to a local security source. “Today, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in front of the house of Lt. Col. Taha Mohammed in a Shura district village, southern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded three policemen in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani security forces have entered the main town in a northwestern valley where Taliban fighters are holed up, engaging the militants in fierce street fights, the army's top spokesman said Saturday. Capturing the town of Mingora is critical to Pakistani efforts to regain the Swat Valley and prevent it from being a safe haven for insurgents increasingly threatening the Muslim nation's stability. It could prove a major test for a military more geared toward conventional warfare on plains than bloody urban battles. Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas also told reporters Saturday that at least 17 alleged militants had been killed over the previous 24 hours in the offensive. "Street fights have begun," Abbas said. "It is a difficult operation because we have to make a house-to-house search. We have cleared some of the area in the city."

#2: Troops killed 60 militants and seized their largest-ever drugs haul, in a just-ended operation in a Taliban stronghold and opium-production center in southern Afghanistan, the US military said Saturday. The operation in the southern province of Helmand ended overnight when troops used air strikes to destroy their massive haul of 92 tonnes of drugs, heroin-processing chemicals and bomb-making materials, it said in a statement.

#3: Two Italian military helicopters came to the aid of a convoy of Afghan soldiers who were under Taliban attack on Friday in Bala Murgab in Bagdhis province. Baghdis borders the province of Herat, where international troops in the NATO-led force are under Italian command. Taliban militants on Thursday opened fire on a patrol of Italian soldiers and a 23-year-old paratrooper, Alessandro Iosca, was lightly wounded in one arm.

#4: A Polish soldier has been wounded in Afghanistan after a military vehicle ran over a land mine. The explosion, seriously wounding the driver of the MRAP Cougar vehicle, took place during a convoy from the Polish base in Ghazni province, south east Afghanistan. The incident occurred several kilometres from the Polish base at Qarabagh. A medical helicopter transported the soldier to a hospital in Bagram. Doctors describe his condition as serious and the soldier is to be transferred to a hospital at the German base in Rammstein.

War News for Friday, May 22, 2009

May 19 airpower summary:

China faces unexpected problem drilling for oil in Iraq:

6 Belgian troops in Afghanistan sent home over pot:

Iraq Bombings Shatter Lull:

6,261 soldiers and police killed in Sri Lankan offensive availableRead more:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A mortar round fell on Abu Nawas river bank at 10 a.m. Friday causing no casualties. It was targeting the Green Zone (across the river) and fell short, said Iraqi Police.

#2: A mortar round fell on al Ghadeer neighbourhood at 6 p.m. Thursday injuring two civilians and causing material damages to one home.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Talbiyah neighbourhood, northeast Baghdad at 10 p.m. Thursday. No casualties were reported.


Mosul:
#1: Three persons were wounded on Thursday when gunmen threw a hand grenade at an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in northern Mosul, a police source said. “Unknown gunmen on Thursday (May 21) threw a hand grenade on an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in al-Majmouaa al-Thaqafiya region in northern Mosul, injuring three people, including two soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. A cameraman from al-Mosuliya channel told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that Iraqi soldiers beat him while covering the armed attack on them, noting that they confiscated his camera.

#2: Three civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in central Mosul city on Thursday, a Ninewa police source said. “The IED rocked the area of Bab al-Bayd, central Mosul, but did not target a certain security facility. Three civilians were wounded in the explosion,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Unidentified gunmen killed a woman and her daughter and wounded the latter’s husband inside their house in eastern Mosul city on Thursday, a police source from Ninewa said. “The gunmen attacked a house in the area of al-Quds neighborhood, eastern Mosul, killing a woman and her daughter and wounding the daughter’s husband while the children managed to escape,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: A policeman was killed and six others were wounded in a bomb explosion late Thursday in central Mosul, a police source said Friday. “A policeman was killed and six more were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off targeting their vehicle patrol in Bab al-Jadeed region in central Mosul late Thursday (May 21),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: A woman was injured on Friday in a roadside bomb explosion in western Mosul city, a police source said. “An explosive device went off on Friday (May 22) targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Refaaei neighborhood in western Mosul, injuring a passing woman and damaging one of the patrol’s vehicles,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) helicopter experienced mechanical problems and as a result made an emergency landing on 22 May, near Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan. ISAF has secured the scene, and a recovery operation is currently underway. The emergency landing was not caused by insurgent action.

#2: Afghan and U.S. forces killed one militant and arrested three others early on Friday in the Nawa district of southern Helmand province, the U.S. military said.

#3: An Afghan army commando was killed and another soldier wounded on Thursday when their patrol was ambushed in Chak district of Wardak province, which borders Kabul.

#4: Seven militants were killed and one detained in a firefight in Gelan district of Ghazni province, which lies southwest of Kabul, during an operation to cut the flow of weapons and fighters into eastern Afghanistan, U.S. forces said.


It's a slow day for reported war news. I sincerely hope this continues at least throughout the weekend, however I will update this post later today if needed. -- whisker

War News for Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of three American soldiers in a "blast" at the Assyrian market in Doura, Baghdad on Thursday, May 21st. Nine additional soldiers were wounded and four Iraqis were killed in the attack.


May 18 airpower summary:

CNN video: A military attorney who represents a freed Guantanamo detainee says the U.S. used torture. CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

U.S. Pullout a Condition in Afghan Peace Talks:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: The bloodshed came a day after a car bomb exploded near a crowded ice cream parlor in a Shiite neighborhood of northern Baghdad, killing at least 34 people, wounding 72 and marking an end to a period of relative calm.

The blasts come hours after a car bomb killed 40 civilians and wounded 82 others in Baghdad's poor, mostly Shi'ite district of Shula late on Wednesday, police said.

The death toll of a parked car bomb in northwest Baghdad's largely Shi'ite district of Shula on Wednesday rose to 40 people killed and 82 wounded, police said, revising earlier figures higher.

#2: At least two policemen were killed and 20 persons, including a number of policemen, were wounded in a bomb explosion inside a police station in western Baghdad on Thursday. “Two policemen were killed on Thursday (May 21) and 20 others, including a number of policemen were wounded in an explosive charge planted in the al-Maamoun police station in western Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Three civilians and two policemen were wounded on Thursday in a roadside bomb explosion in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said. “A roadside bomb, planted on the road, exploded on Thursday (May 21) targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Zaafaraniya region in southeastern Baghdad, injuring three civilians and two policemen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Al Massayab:
#1: Four policemen were wounded on Thursday in a bomb blast in the north of Babel province, according to a security source. “An improvised explosive device went off on Thursday (May 21) targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Massieb region in the north of Babel, injuring four policemen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Roadside bombs wounded four Iraqi soldiers and three policemen when they arrived at the scene of a car accident that killed nine people and wounded seven others, police said.

#2: Four policemen were wounded on Wednesday when a Katyusha rocket landed near a police patrol in the town of Mussayab, around 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Hilla:
#1: A gunman opened fire at a mourning ceremony, killing two men on Wednesday in an area near Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber killed at least eight members of a Sunni paramilitary group in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, as the group members were waiting outside an army station to get paid. It is the second time in recent weeks that individuals in the groups, known as Sons of Iraq, have been targeted by explosives as they waited for their salaries.

A roadside bomb targeted the motorcade of Kirkuk Chief of Police, Brigadier Burhan Tayib in Korneesh Street, central Kirkuk injuring one of the security personnel and dcausing damages to one of the cars.


Mosul:
#1: Two brothers were wounded in an armed attack in central Mosul city, a medical source from Ninewa province said on Thursday. “Unknown gunmen on Thursday noon opened fire on two brothers at the Babil-tob bus station, central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Seven militants died Wednesday after a firefight and airstrikes in the central Ghazni province, the statement said. The joint force was after a Taliban subcommander involved in attacks in eastern Afghanistan. The wanted man, who was not identified, was detained.

#2: Another two militants were killed and six others detained after a clash in the southern Helmand province Thursday, another statement said.

#3: 4 members of 108th injured in Afghanistan. Four Charlie Troop soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan were injured on Sunday after their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device (IED). None of the injuries are considered life-threatening, said Lt. Col. Ken Baldowski, a public affairs officer with the Georgia Army National Guard.

#4: Pakistan said Thursday five soldiers and a number of militants were killed during fighting in a northwest valley where fighter jets and ground troops have pressed an offensive against the Taliban. "In the last 24 hours, a number of miscreants-terrorists including important miscreant commander Abu Tariq were killed and seven miscreants were apprehended, " the military said in a statement. "Five soldiers embraced shahadat and seven soldiers, including an officer were injured, in various areas of Swat," it added, referring to maytrdom. The military reported fighting in Peochar, a key Taliban bastion in northern Swat, the town of Kanju and around a Taliban supply line in Takhta Bund.

War News for Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of two Americans including one ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing in Kobul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 20th.


May 17 airpower summary:

U.S. Army paid bonuses to KBR despite questions:

Shades of Iraq, millions spent in Afghanistan lack adequate oversight:

Report by government says almost 25 per cent of Iraqis live in poverty:

Former Iraqi Oil Minister Plays Down Dispute With Kurdistan Production:

World Oil Production Forecast - Update May 2009:

Afghanistan: Farmers hit by more flooding:

Flood kills 2, wounds 6 in NE Afghanistan:

Assassinations On The Rise In Afghanistan:

Location of all Pak nukes not known: CIA:

Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands:

Iran tests missile as election race starts:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Shaab neighbourhood, northern Baghdad Wednesday at 2 p.m. causing material damage to one vehicle. No casualties were reported.


Kirkuk:
#1: One of the bodyguards of the Kirkuk police chief was wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in southern Kirkuk on Wednesday, a source from the joint coordination center said. “An improvised explosive device went off in al-Kourniesh street in southern Kirkuk on Wednesday (May 20) , while a police vehicle patrol was passing, injuring a bodyguard of the Kirkuk police chief,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Police forces found the corpse of a civilian with signs of multiple stab wounds on it in eastern Mosul city, a source from Ninewa province’s police said on Tuesday. “Police patrols found the dead body in al-Sewiss neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Signs of multiple stab wounds were found on different parts of the corpse,” he said.

#2: Four civilians were wounded on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in the southwest of Mosul, a police source said. “An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday (May 19) inside a mechanic’s shop in Tal Abdta district in southwest of Mosul, injuring four civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A civilian was killed by unknown gunmen in western Mosul. “A civilian was killed on Tuesday (May 19) in al-Zinjili region in western Mosul by gunmen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: “An anti-bomb squad managed to defuse two explosive charges in al-Midan region in central Mosul, without casualties,” he added.

#5: Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Wednesday in an improvised explosive device explosion in eastern Mosul, an army source said. “An explosive charge went off on Wednesday (May 20) targeting an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in al-Zahraa neighborhood in eastern Mosul, injuring two soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An airstrike by a Nato warplane has killed eight civilians in southern Afghanistan. The military alliance said the air raid was launched following a clash with a group of 25 insurgents in Helmand province.

#2: At least two police officers have been killed and eight others have been wounded in an attack in southern Afghanistan, according to an official. The suicide bombing occurred in Arghandab district of Kandahar province on Tuesday evening, said the district's governor, Abdul-Jabbar. He added that the province's police chief was seriously hurt in the incident.

#3: Militants killed three construction workers in an attack early on Tuesday in southwestern Afghanistan, authorities said, as Afghan and US troops said they killed seven insurgents in a Taliban stronghold. The civilians were killed when their office in the remote province of Nimroz was attacked by rebels, the interior ministry said. Two other workers were wounded, it added in a statement. The ministry blamed the attack on “the enemies of peace and stability”.

#4: Five Afghan police were wounded on Wednesday after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in Uruzgan province which also lies in the south, the Interior Ministry said.

#5: Four Afghan police, including a district police chief, were killed by a roadside bomb overnight in southern Zabul, a provincial official said on Wednesday.

#6: Afghan troops killed at least 10 Taliban insurgents in an operation in southern Helmand province, an army officer said on Wednesday.

War News for Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The DoD is reporting what appears to be a new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. David A. Schaefer Jr. died in a roadside bomb attack in an undisclosed location in Baghdad on Sunday, May 16th.


Pakistani army commander in talks with NATO:

Iraq Arrests 2 Sunni Leaders, Raising Fears of Violence:

Blog: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: US is training PJAK


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: In a separate incident, a mortar round landed on the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, which houses most of the Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies, the source said without giving further details.


Jarf Al Sakha:
#1: A local Sahwa chief was also wounded by a roadside bomb attack on his car in Jarf Sakha, south of the capital.


Taji:
#1: Two Iraqi civilians were killed and five others were wounded by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. The blast appeared to target their car in Taji, 30 kilometres (19 miles north of Baghdad.

Two civilians were killed and five others injured in a bomb explosion near Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said. The attack took place after midday when a roadside bomb struck a minibus carrying passengers in Taji area, some 20 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Makhmour:
#1: An unknown body belonging to a woman was found by Iraqi army forces west of Makhmour suburb, according to an army source. “The woman is in her thirties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The corpse was found near Aqarat village, 25 km west of Makhmor,” he said. “Signs of gunshot wounds were found on the body,” he added.


Hawija:
#1: One gunman was killed and two others were wounded, while attempting to plant a bomb in central Huwaiyja on Monday, a police source said. “A gunman was killed when the bomb he was attempting to plant on the road near the industrial neighborhood in central Huwaiyja, southwest of Kirkuk, went off, while two others gunmen were wounded, one of them remains in a critical condition,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: The US military says its forces have killed an Iraqi civilian who failed to heed warnings and stop his car at a checkpoint in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. "Coalition forces signaled for the vehicle to stop. The vehicle continued its approach, forcing coalition forces to fire at it, killing the driver," it said in a statement.


Tal Afar:
#1: Two civilians on Tuesday were seriously wounded in an explosive device blast in Ninewa’s Talafar district, according to a local police chief. “A roadside improvised explosive device (IED) went off in al-Salam neighborhood, Talafar district (60 km west of Mosul), seriously injuring two civilians,” Col. Ali Hadi Ebeid told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani soldiers battled Taliban militants in towns in Swat on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to get food to thousands of civilians trapped by the fighting. Soldiers are advancing on the valley's towns from different directions after they finished the first part of the campaign aimed at Taliban strongholds and supply depots in the mountains, the military said. Soldiers conducting cordon and search operations in Matta town clashed with militants and an officer and a soldier were killed while seven soldiers were wounded, the military said. Troops were also in, or advancing on, the towns of Kanju and Takhtaband, it said. "Fierce clashes are taking place at both places," the military said in a statement, adding that 14 militants and two soldiers were killed in those clashes. The government says more than 1,000 militants have been killed in the offensive, while the military says more than 50 soldiers have been killed.

War News for Monday, May 18, 2009

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in a direct-fire / small arms fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, May 15th. No other details were released. We believe these to be American soldiers.


May 13 airpower summary:

May 14 airpower summary:

May 15 airpower summary:

May 16 airpower summary:

Afghanistan govt confirms 140 civilian deaths in airstrikes:

Iraq's fledgeling navy takes possession of its first naval patrol boat:

Iraq says building oil pipeline for Jordan not feasible:

Iraq's once-envied health care system lost to war, corruption:

Cheney said in 2004 Gitmo detainees revealed Iraq-al Qaida link:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two civilians on Monday were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in central Baghdad, according to an official security source. “This morning, an explosive device detonated on St. 6 of Allawi area, downtown Baghdad, injuring two civilians and causing damage to two civilian cars,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Meanwhile, three civilians were killed and 10 others were wounded when an IED exploded last night near a café in Abu Tasheer area, southern Baghdad, according to the same source.

#3: Around 9:10 p.m. a roadside bomb detonated near a coffee shop in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad on Sunday. Five people were wounded.

#4: Around 9:30 p.m. two roadside bombs detonated in sequence in Ghadeer of the New Baghdad neighborhood in eastern Baghdad on Sunday. No casualties reported.

#5: A roadside bomb wounded two people in central Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
Muqdadiyah:
#1: Iraqi Police found four unidentified bodies in Muqdadiyah, 30 km to the northeast of Baquba Sunday morning.


Basra:
#1: A police officer on Monday was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near his house in central Basra city, according to a local security source. “A lieutenant colonel was killed when an explosive device detonated near his house on 14 Tammuz St., downtown Basra,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion wounded the officer’s son and one of his companions,” the source added.

#2: Sunday A roadside bomb wounded an Iraqi soldier near an Iraqi base in northern Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.


Samarra:
#1: Iraqi police found a body in the Tigris River in Hwaish area around 7 km to the north of the city of Samarra Sunday afternoon. It was the body of a man in his thirties, the police said. His hands were bound and he had been shot several times in the head and chest.


Hawija:
#1: A combined Iraqi-U.S. force detonated one rocket and two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) without incident in Kirkuk on Sunday, a source from the city’s Joint Coordination Center said. “A patrol of al-Huweija police station found a rocket of unidentified type and two IEDs near al-Hai al-Sinaie neighborhood, al-Huweija district, (65 km) southwest of Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi policeman was killed and three civilians were wounded when a suicide bomber targeted the home of the governor of a northern Iraqi province, according to news reports Monday. Citing local police, it said a man detonated explosives packed into his car 150 metres away from the home of Athil al-Najifi, governor of Iraq's northern Nineveh province, in downtown Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad. The governor was apparently unharmed, Baghdad's Buratha news agency reported.

#2: Late Sunday night, police told DPA that militants had fatally shot a police officer in downtown Mosul.

#3: In a separate incident Sunday evening, "unknown gunmen" fatally shot a civil servant in the Hay al-Zuhur district of eastern Mosul. A bystander was also injured in that incident, police said.

#4: Also Sunday evening, a car bomb targeting an Iraqi military patrol east of Mosul injured two Iraqi soldiers and four civilians bystanders, police told DPA.

#5: That attack followed an attack on an Iraqi police patrol in the western Mosul district of Den-Den, police said. Four people, including one policeman, were killed in that car-bomb attack.

#6: Police in eastern Mosul also said they had found five unidentified bodies in the Tahrir neighbourhood earlier that day.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen fired rockets and machine guns at a motorcade carrying the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday in an apparent assassination attempt, the brother said. A bodyguard was killed. Ahmad Wali Karzai said his convoy was on the way to Kabul from eastern Nangarhar province when gunmen attacked them in Surobi, a mountainous area about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital. He was not harmed. Rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire rained down on the cars after they had entered the Surobi pass, said Abdul Jalal Shamal, the Surobi district police chief.

#2: Fighting in southern Afghanistan killed 6 Afghan police Sunday. The clash in Helmand province started when insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Nahri Saraj district in the early morning, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Police arrested one of the attackers and sent search teams out to chase others, it said.

#3: Meanwhile, a roadside bomb in Zabul province killed one Afghan army soldier and wounded three others, the Defense Ministry said.

#4: In nearby Uruzgan province on Saturday, Afghan and international forces killed six insurgents in Dihrawud district, the Interior Ministry said.

#5: At least five NATO-led troops have been injured in a roadside bomb explosion in the eastern Afghan province of Kapisa, local officials say. The blast occurred Sunday after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Tagab district of the province. Three of the injured are said to be in critical conditions, a Press TV correspondent reported Monday. The NATO force in Afghanistan, however, has declined to comment on the report.

#6: Three civilians were killed and another one wounded on May 18 after troops from Afghan's National Army (ANA) opened fire in a market in east Afghanistan, a local police chief said. The shooting occurred in Jalalabad, the capital of the Nangarhar Province, Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi said. He added that three soldiers who opened fire had been arrested.

#7: Hours later, five other policemen were killed in another attack by Taliban insurgents on a post in the southwestern province of Nimroz, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad told AFP.

#8: In other violence, six militants, including a “foreign national”, were killed in a clash with troops on Saturday in Uruzgan, another flashpoint of the Taliban insurgency also on the border with Helmand, the interior ministry said.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 17, 2009

raqi men pray over the body of a little boy killed in a rocket attack in Baghdad on May 16. An Iraqi toddler and four policemen were killed in the latest violence to rock Baghdad on Saturday as the US military captured three men suspected of links with a Syria-based Al-Qaeda leader. (AFP/Ali al-Saadi)


Note: Today's post will include some news from yesterday, May 16

Reported Security Incidents for May 16

A Multi-National Division- South Soldier was killed in action today [Saturday, May 16] in southern Iraq. Note: This is unusual, the Basra area has not seen attacks on occupation forces recently.

Reuters Factbox for May 16 includes the following highlights. They have tended to give very incomplete reports recently but fortunately for me, this one is more thorough:

JALAWLA - U.S. troops shot and wounded a bystander when they fired a warning shot at an approaching car in Jalawla, 115 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb killed one soldier and wounded two people in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded three others in the Ghadir district of eastern Baghdad, police said.

ABU GHRAIB - A roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded seven people, including two policemen, in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad, police said.

SAMARRA - Militants attacked a checkpoint in central Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, wounding two policemen and one member of a local government-backed militia, police said.

SADR CITY - A rocket attack killed a child and wounded three members of the child's family in the Sadr city area of northeastern Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Police arrested three suspects in the kidnapping of a relative of Essam Ayid, an Arab member of the Nineveh provincial council. Ayid's relative was kidnapped on Thursday in western Mosul.

VoI reports that U.S. forces shot and wounded a farmer in Hilla. The U.S. military later issued a statement that the man had failed to obey their instructions. Since Hilla is not Jalawla (they aren't even in the same province), I'm assuming this is not the same incident reported by Reuters, but you never know.

Tal al-Hawa, near Mosul

U.S. and Iraqi forces arrest three people said to be associates of Abu Khalaf, described as a facilitator of smuggling militants and arms from Syria.

Reported Security Incidents for May 17

Mahaweel, near Hilla

U.S. troops opened fire on a Caprice vehicle carrying al-Qadissiya university professor Abdulhussein Abbas,leaving him wounded. No explanation for the incident is given. This seems to be a trend ... --C

Mosul

Gunmen kill an off-duty prison guard.

Police find the decapitated body of a man.

Car bomb attack on a police patrol kills one officer, wounds 2, also injures 2 bystanders. Xinhua also reports a second officer killed by gunfire elsewhere in the city.

Fallujah

Iraqi security forces arrest 35 people in a sweep. Note: VoI has reported smaller numbers of arrests around the country today in Missan province, Diala, Basra, and Kirkuk. I think this probably reflects fairly routine activity but the government decided to issue a lot of press releases. The VoI security index page is here.

Other News of the Day

Iraqi forces arrest two police officers accused of being leaders of the Islamic Army of Iraq, a Sunni militant group accused of attacks on security forces and abductions of foreigners.

McClatchy's Corinne Reilly reports on the deterioration of Iraq's health care system. Excerpt:

Stories of missing drugs, of desperately ill-equipped doctors and of patients left to suffer the consequences are everywhere in Iraq's public health care system. Some hospitals are filthy and infested with bugs. Others are practically falling down. More and more, the blame is being placed on Iraq's U.S.-backed government, which by many accounts is infested with corruption and incompetence.

There's no doubt that years of economic sanctions, followed by years of war, have taken a heavy toll on all public services in Iraq. However, with violence down and some tentative sense of normalcy returning, improvements in health care should be coming far faster than they are, according to doctors, patients, aid organizations and some public officials.

They fault widespread problems at all levels of Iraq's government, and the examples they cite are troubling. Health ministry workers routinely siphon drugs from hospital orders to make extra cash on the black market. Bribery is rampant. Millions of dollars meant for clinics and equipment have gone missing. Millions more have been wasted on government contracts to buy expired medicines. The health ministry's inspector general openly admits the problems. Even so, the culprits are rarely punished.

Abdulaziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, has returned to Iran for cancer treatment. Iranian president Ahmadinejad is said to have visited him in the hospital. It's no mystery why he isn't being treated in Iraq -- see above.

After a long legal struggle, 9 Iraqis who were abused by British troops have been awarded more than £100,000 each. In the 2003 incident, "The young men were forced to simulate sex acts on each other, and one was hoisted into the air with a forklift truck."

According to WaPo's Ernesto Londoño, Sadr City resident fear renewed sectarian violence when U.S. forces withdraw. I'm never sure how much to make of this sort of "random quotation" journalism. You find a person here and a person there to say something, so it must be true. I am certainly convinced that the Iraqi security forces are riddled with corruption and sectarianism. I'm not sure how things will play out, but I suspect that Sadr City residents are probably not among those who should have the biggest worries at this point. -- C

Afghanistan Update

Six Afghan police killed in an attack on a checkpoint in Helmand. Also, IED attack in Zabul kills an Afghan soldier and injures 2.

Five police killed in a separate incident in Nimroz.

Four "contractors" from the Security Firm Formerly Known as Blackwater are held for investigation after they killed an Afghan man following a car crash. The men were apparently off duty at the time. The incident occurred on May 5.

2,500 fresh U.S. troops arrive in Kandahar.

Quote of the Day

If people in the Middle East would get so angry at seeing some more photographs depicting sex abuse of prisoners at the hands of U.S. personnel that U.S. national security would be threatened, as Obama and the Pentagon are now claiming, doesn’t it stand to reason that they’d get just as angry, if not more so, over the much worse things that the U.S. government was doing in the Middle East prior to 9/11? And doesn’t that imply that the “they hate us for our freedom and values” line was bogus from the get-go?

Jacob G. Hornberger