War News for Friday, August 21, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing near Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Thursday, August 20th.

The DoD is reporting what appears to be a new death, previously unreported by the military. Spc. Matthew D. Hastings died from a non-combat related incident in Baghdad Iraq on Monday, August 17th.

Reuters is reporting the death of an American soldier in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in Eastern Afghanistan presumably on Thursday, August 20th.


Aug. 19 airpower summary:

Aug. 18 airpower summary:

Ridge: Bush officials sought to raise terror alert before '04 vote:

Suicide attacks in Chechnya kill 4:

CIA operated drones from two Pakistan air force bases: Experts:

Kidnapped French tourist freed in SW Pakistan:

11 Afghan electoral workers killed: commission:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi police official said a bomb attached to a small truck exploded Friday at the entrance of a wholesale vegetable market. The truck passed through an Iraqi police checkpoint in southern Baghdad but was not searched minutes before exploding at the front gate of the market, killing two and wounding 20, said the official. The truck bomb Friday exploded at about 7:30 a.m., the height of business at the wholesale market in Dora, a primarily Sunni neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the official said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Five persons on Thursday were found dead a few hours after they had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Diala province, according to a local security source. “On Thursday, unknown gunmen clad in Iraqi army uniform kidnapped five persons from a café in Tabba village, Jalawlaa district (155 km northeast of Baaquba),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One civilian was killed on Friday and his son was wounded by U.S. forces in north of Baaquba, according to a security source. “U.S. troops raided al-Mulla Houbash village in Khales district, north of Baaquba, on Friday (Aug. 21) and stormed a house, where they opened fire on its owner, killing him and injuring his son,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The forces arrested the wounded son on the pretext of being wanted to judicial authorities,” he added.


Al Mansouriya:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Thursday went off near a U.S. patrol vehicle in Thi-Qar province, but no casualties were reported, according to a local official. “The blast occurred in al-Mansouriya area while a U.S. patrol vehicle was entering the city in the company of Iraqi police patrol cars,” the chairman of the security committee in Thi-Qar’s provincial council, Sijad al-Assadi, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The explosion did not cause any damage or casualties on the U.S. side, a media spokesperson for the Multi-National Force (MNF) said.


Hilla:
#1: Thursday "This afternoon, two civilians were killed and nine others were injured when a sticky explosive device went off on a bus north of Hilla City,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A roadside bomb went off in Hilla, Thursday afternoon causing no casualties or damages.


Mahaweel:
#1: Thursday “Two other explosive charges exploded in a popular market in al-Mahaweel district (16 km north of Hilla), killing two civilians and wounding 15 others,” the source noted.

#2: A Kia mini bus filled with passengers detonated near the checkpoint at the entrance of the town of Mahawil, 13 km to the north of Hilla at 2 p.m. Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring 21 others.


Al Maseeb:
#1: Thursday “In two simultaneous blasts, two other devices detonated in al-Maseeb district (45 km north of Hilla), wounding 41 persons,” the source added.

Two roadside bombs went off simultaneously in the city of Musayeb, 27 km to the north of Hilla late Thursday afternoon killing 13 civilians and injuring 130 others.


Kirkuk:
#1: A lawmaker and his family were wounded Friday by gunmen in south of Kirkuk province, the province districts’ police chief said. “Unknown gunmen attacked MP Ahmad Saleh while on his car with his family on al-Rabiya village road in Daqouq district, south of Kirkuk,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The lawmaker, his wife and one of his children were wounded in the attack,” he said, noting that they were rushed to the Kirkuk public hospital for treatment.


Mosul:
#1: Thursday A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in New Mosul, central Mosul, Thursday, killing one serviceman and injuring five others.

#2: The body of a member of the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces was found in west Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said, after he was kidnapped a day earlier. The body bore bullet wounds.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A U.S. drone fired a missile Friday into a suspected militant hide-out in Pakistan’s lawless northwest, killing 11 people in the stronghold of a jihadist commander accused of attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said. Friday’s attack was on a housing compound in Dande Darpa Khel, a village less than a mile west of Miran Shah in North Waziristan, three intelligence officers said condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Eleven people were killed, some of whom were Afghans, two of the officers said.

#2: Taliban insurgents killed an election official in an attack on a vehicle carrying boxes of counted ballot papers in northern Balkh province, Afghan army commander General Murad Ali said. The boxes of ballot papers were set on fire, he said.

#3: Two Afghan soldiers and four insurgents were killed during a clash in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, after militants attacked a polling station overnight, said Ismail Jahangir, the provincial governor's spokesman.

#4: Afghan security forces killed six Taliban insurgents after the militants attacked their post in the Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province, the Interior Ministry said.

#5: Insurgents attacked an election convoy carrying counted ballot papers in Logar province, south of Kabul, on Thursday night, said Zekria Barakzai, deputy chief of the election commission. There were no casualties and no election material had been damaged, he said


DoD: Pfc. William Z. Vanosdol

DoD: Spc. Matthew D. Hastings

DoD: Spc. Paul E. Dumont, Jr.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Clayton P. Bowen

DoD: Pfc. Morris L. Walker