War News for Wednesday, June 03, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an IED attack near Gereshk, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 2nd. Here is the NATO release.


June 1 airpower summary:

May 31 airpower summary:

Oil slips below $68 ahead of new US stocks data:

Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo found dead: U.S.

U.S. Report Finds Airstrike Errors in Afghan Deaths:

The evolution of IEDs:

Behind the Scenes: Tank Man of Tiananmen: (Way off topic but the article is worth the time invested reading it. -- whisker)


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off near a U.S. army convoy in eastern Baghdad, a police source said Wednesday. “An explosive charge was detonated in al-Jawader neighborhood in the Sadr City in eastern Baghdad late Tuesday (June 2) targeting a U.S. army convoy,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “There is no immediate word on casualties among the forces,” he added, noting that the U.S. forces cordoned off the whole region.


Tikrit:
#1: Explosives experts on Wednesday managed to defuse a Katyusha rocket poised to target the U.S. base in northwest of Tikrit, a police source said. “The bombs experts defused a Katyusha rocket set for launch towards the U.S. base in northwest of Tikrit,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The force found the rocket in al-Suqour neighborhood near the U.S. base,” he added.


Mosul:
#1: Two construction workers were wounded Tuesday in a bomb explosion in western Mosul, a security source said. “An improvised explosive device went off Tuesday (June 2) in al-Tink neighborhood in western Mosul, injuring two construction workers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two roadside bombs tore through a convoy carrying Afghan private security guards, killing 10 of them in eastern Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday. The convoy in eastern Pakitia province was initially hit by a blast that killed one security guard on Tuesday, said police chief Azizullah Wardak of the province. A second improvised explosive device then ripped through the convoy and killed nine guards in another vehicle in Paktia's Chamkani district, Wardak said. The Afghan guards were based with U.S. troops in the area. It was unclear what security company they were working for, or if they were traveling with American forces.

#2: Also Tuesday, two policemen were killed and five others were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in southern Kandahar province, a police official said on Wednesday. The police were on a patrol in Zhari district when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, which also wounded five officers, said Bismaullah Khan Zhari, a district police chief.

#3: Police reported meanwhile that Taliban rebels ambushed a convoy of Afghan and international security forces in the southern province of Zabul late Tuesday, sparking a battle that left 11 Taliban dead. The bodies of the men were left at the site of the clash, near the provincial capital of Qalat, along with some weapons, Zabul police chief Abdur Rahman Sarjang told.

#4: The Afghan interior ministry reported a separate clash between security forces and Taliban in Zabul's Shah Joy district earlier Tuesday in which three militants were killed, it said in a statement. Two more were arrested.

#5: An Afghan police officer was killed while trying to defuse a bomb in the town of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, a provincial official said.