War News for Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in a roadside bombing in Lashkar Gah district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, July 27th.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a second ISAF soldier in another roadside bombing in Sangin district, Helmand province Afghanistan on Monday, July 27th.


July 24 airpower summary:

July 25 airpower summary:

Defense Secretary Gates arrives in Iraq:

Aussie defence chief visits Afghanistan:

Italy denies plans to pull out of Afghanistan:

Beach Marine sues contractor over injuries sustained in Iraq:

NY Times: In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable Assets


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen killed eight security guards and made off with nearly $7 million Tuesday during an early morning robbery at a bank in central Baghdad that police say is the work of insurgents attempting to finance their operations. It is the second deadly robbery in a week in Baghdad's commercial Karradah district. Although violence has dropped dramatically over the past two years, the number of robberies in Iraq appears to be on the rise. The gunmen broke into the state-run Rafidain Bank at about 4 a.m., killing three on-duty guards and five others on the premises, who were either on a break or asleep, said an Iraqi police official.

#2: Four civilians were wounded when two improvised explosive devices went off in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, an Iraqi police source said. “Two IEDs emplaced by unidentified persons on the main road in al-Mechanic neighborhood, al-Dora district, southern Baghdad, went off consecutively, leaving four civilians wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Monday Around 8 p.m. a sticky bomb exploded in Harthiyah neighborhood injuring five civilians.

A bomb attached to a civilian car wounded three people in the car and two bystanders in western Baghdad's Harithia district, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A civilian man was killed when an improvised explosive device went off near the district of Jalawlaa, southwest of Khanaqin, a security source in Diala said. “The IED went off on Tuesday (July 28) near a civilian vehicle in the village of Jaghat, Jalawlaa, (30 km) southwest of Khanaqin, killing the driver instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A civilian man was shot down by a gunman in front of his house in southeastern Mosul city, a local source said. “A gunman on Monday evening opened fire at a civilian man from a suppressor gun in front of his house at al-Intissar neighborhood, southeastern Mosul, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Monday A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in central Mosul near the main bus station injuring one policeman.

#3: Gunmen killed a civilian, Christian, in Telkev town.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bombing against police left two civilians dead and injured four others in the relatively peaceful northern province of Tahar, provincial police chief said on Tuesday. "A roadside bombing against vehicle of Ghulam Mohammad, police chief of Warsaj district, killed two civilians and injured four others Monday evening," Ziahuddin Mahmoodi told Xinhua. He also added that the Ghulam Mohammad and his personnel have escaped safely from the incident while the bombing harmed civilians who were passing the scene.

#2: The militants killed an abducted police official on Tuesday in Sangota area of northwestern Pakistan 's Swat district, a private TV channel said. According to the report, the official was abducted a few days ago.

#3: In another incident, a telephone exchange was blown up in Poranarea of the abutting Shangla district in which the exchange's watchman was injured. However, the nature of the blast was not discovered.

#4: In the eastern province of Laghman, a local election campaign official of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah was shot dead Tuesday morning by unknown gunmen in Dawlat Shah district. Rahm Khuda Mukhlis, the police chief of Dawlat Shah district, confirmed the attack on officials of Abdullah's election campaign and said that one person was killed and two others were injured in this incident.

#5: Three employees of a private construction company and three civilians were killed in the south-eastern province of Khost. The vehicle of a private road construction company struck a roadside mine Monday and killed at least three company staff, Fazal Rabi, a spokesman for the governor of Khost, said. "After the incident, security officials of the road construction company opened fire on a gathering of people, as a result three civilians were also killed," he added.

#6: In a third incident eight guards working for a private security company were killed in the explosion of a remote-controlled mine in the restive province of Helmand, the Afghan Interior Ministry said. "A remote-control mine trapped two vehicles of Hamayoon private Security Company, as a result at least eight guards of the company were killed and four others were injured," the statement said. The ministry said the incident took place in the Yakhchal area of the province's Grishik district at 8 am.

#7: Two Polish soldiers were injured during the bombing of the Warrior military base in Afghanistan. One of the soldiers, with severe head, leg and arm wounds, is in a critical state. He has already undergone one surgery at the Polish base in the Ghazni province. The second soldier was wounded by a shrapnel. He is in stable condition. Both soldiers will be transported to a hospital in Bagram.

Yesterday evening, two Polish soldiers stationed on the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warrior in Afghanistan were injured when insurgents opened fire on the base. One soldier was injured critically. He was shot in the head and leg, and is now in serious but stable condition in a military hospital in Ghazni in central Afghanistan. The second soldier's legs were hit with shrapnel, but he was not seriously wounded.

#8: Sixteen Taliban militants were killed in an operation by Afghan security forces in the Barg Matal district of eastern Nuristan province, the Defence Ministry said.

#9: A blast in a shop killed one civilian and wounded two in the Sabari district of eastern Khost province, the Interior Ministry said.

#10: A roadside bomb killed one roadworker and wounded two in the Sharan district of southeastern Paktika province on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.

#11: A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region Tuesday, causing an explosion that killed two police and wounded five other security officials, authorities said.

#12: Five rockets fired by militants apparently targeted the office of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in Herat city, the capital of Heart province in west Afghanistan, injuring one civilian, police chief in the region Ikramudin Yawar said Tuesday. "The rockets were fired from Gazara district Monday at 10:30 p.m. and one of them struck a residential house near UNAMA office, injuring one person," Yawar told Xinhu


Casualty Reports:

British Lance Corporal Tom Birch will never be able to work again after a suffering a brain injury in an accident in Afghanistan while serving with the Royal Marines. The former Lance Corporal has no memory of the day in October 2006 when he tumbled 100ft down an embankment in a Land Rover which his lawyers say he was not qualified to drive. He suffered a depressed skull fracture, a cerebral haemorrhage, a collapsed lung and other injuries but survived. After a string of operations and intensive round-the clock care, he has had to learn again how to walk and talk. Three years later his speech is slurred, his memory and concentration severely impaired.