War News for Monday, August 03, 2009

Iraq oil sector sees militant attacks fall:

Iraq's oil exports rise to 2.037 mln bpd in July:

US, Osama shared intimate ties till 9/11’

Pakistan Valley Tries to Heal, and Fears Dark Battles Ahead:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two civilians on Monday were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in downtown Baghdad, according to an Iraqi police source. “An explosive charge planted by unknown men near the fence of al-Umma Park in al-Bab al-Sharqi area, downtown Baghdad, detonated today, wounding two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Iraqi soldiers found seven bodies in northern Baghdad on Sunday, the Iraqi army said.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol wounded one policeman just south of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police said.

#1: Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi army patrol, wounding one soldier in eastern Mosul on Sunday, police said.

#3: An Iraqi soldier was wounded in a gun attack in central Mosul on Sunday, police said.


Tal Afar:
#1: The head of the Talafar Municipality on Monday survived an assassination attempt when an explosive device targeted his convoy in Ninewa province, according to a local police source. “At 08:00 a.m. today, a roadside explosive device exploded in al-Rabie neighborhood, northern Talafar (60 km northwest of Mosul) near the motorcade of the Talafar Municipality’s head, Engineer Mohsin Hussein Zayn al-Abideen, who escaped the blast,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion injured one civilian, who was taken to the Talafar Public Hospital,” the source noted.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in the city of Fallujah west of Baghdad on Monday, killing three people and wounding eight others, a local police source said. The attacker targeted the police checkpoint at the northern entrance of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Two policemen were among the deaths and five others were among the wounded, the source said. The blast also damaged several nearby houses, shops and civilian cars.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A remote-controlled bomb exploded Monday in western Afghanistan's main city, killing 10 people and critically wounding a district police chief - the main target of the attack. The bomb went off on a crowded street near a fruit market in Herat. It injured 30 people, said Raouf Ahmedi, the top police spokesman in western Afghanistan. The target was Mohammad Issa, the police chief for nearby Injil district, who was driving into town. He was transferred to a NATO-run hospital in critical condition, Ahmedi said. Local police officials initially reported 12 dead. But the head of the regional health department, Dr. Ghulam Said Rashid, confirmed 10 were killed: a woman, a young girl, six men and two police officers.

#2: Meanwhile in the north of the country, an ambush on Korean road engineers left one of their Afghan drivers dead on Monday, an official said. The attack occurred at a construction site where a large number of Korean engineers and Afghan workers were building a road, said Abdelsatar Barez, the deputy governor for Faryab province, which borders Turkmenistan.

#3: A day earlier, insurgents attacked a northern police checkpoint in the old city of Baghlan, the Interior Ministry said. Eight militants and two police died in the ensuing gunbattle, the ministry said in a statement Monday.

Clash between Taliban and police in the relatively peaceful Baghlan province of north Afghanistan left eight insurgents and two policemen dead, said a statement of Interior Ministry issued here on Monday. "The militants attacked police checkpoint in Shari Kohna area of Baghlan-e-Markazi, and police returned fire, killing eight rebels on the spot and injured three others," the statement added. Two police were also killed in the firefight, it added.

#4: In the continuation of militancy in south Afghanistan, two more civilians fell victims as a mine struck a civilian car in Zabul province Monday, police said. "A civilian car ran over an explosive device planted by militants in Soor district this morning, as a result, two on board were killed and three others sustained injuries, all civilians," Deputy to provincial police chief Ghulam Jilani Khan told Xinhua.

#5: Explosions and firing have been heard in a southwestern Pakistani town of Khuzdar in Boluchistan, with no casualties being reported yet, local TV said Monday.


Casualty Reports:

Marine Jesse Cottle, 24, a U.S. Marine and a Fort Collins native, was patrolling in Afghanistan as part of an explosive ordnance disposal team in mid-July when he stepped on an undetected improvised explosive device. Though Cottle lost both legs from the knee down.

Nick Bradley’s life changed forever on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008. On that day, Bradley, a staff sergeant with the United States Air Force’s 96th Wing, was injured in an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. After one year and 14 operations so far, with several more slated in the future, Bradley is one the road to recovery and enjoying another chance at life.