War News for Thursday, August 06, 2009

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in a "hostile incident" in an undisclosed location in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, August 5th. The AFP is reporting An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing.


Aug. 3 airpower summary:

Airpower Summary for August 4, 2009:

Soldier's life under fire at remote base in heat of Afghanistan:

Barracks and Burger King: U.S. Builds a Supersized Base in Afghanistan:

Albania to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage: (I guess there's going to be a motion to bomb them next -- Whisker)

Iraq’s Government Orders Barriers Removed:

The War We Can’t Win
Afghanistan & the Limits of American Power: (Cervantes sent this one to me this morning, I'm not writing a subnopsis on it but I do recomend just reading it. -- Whisker)


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Three civilians were wounded in two explosions in western Baghdad, a police source said Thursday. “Two explosive charges went off simultaneously late Wednesday (Aug. 5) in al-Arabi neighborhood near a tower of AsiaCell Company in al-Mansour region, western Baghdad, injuring three civilians and damaging the tower,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A man and his wife were killed Thursday when unknown gunmen opened fire on their car south of Khanaqin, according to a security source. “Unidentified gunmen on Thursday (Aug. 6) opened fire on a civilian vehicle on the road between Imam Wes and al-Saadiya district, south of Khanaqin, killing a man and his wife,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tikrit:
#1: Around 12 p.m. a roadside bomb detonated in downtown Tikrit city targeting a police vehicle. No casualties were reported.


Mosul:
#1: Three medicine factory personnel on Wednesday were killed or wounded in an explosive charge blast in Mosul city, according to a local police source. “This afternoon, a Kia-modeled vehicle exploded on Mosul-Talkeef road (northern Mosul), leaving one civilian killed and two others injured,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Two militants were killed and a third was wounded when a bomb they were carrying inside their car exploded in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: Gunmen in a speedy car killed a woman in western Mosul, north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: Gunmen killed a civilian inside his home in western Mosul, north of Baghdad, police said.

#5: A bomb attached to a vehicle killed one person and wounded two in Telkeif town, on the northern outskirts of Mosul city, north of Baghdad, on Wednesday, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bomb hit a wedding party on its way to a ceremony in southern Afghanistan, killing 21 people including women and children, Afghan officials said Thursday. The large group of men, women and children heading to the wedding were riding a tractor in the Garmser district of Helmand province Wednesday morning when they were hit by a roadside bomb, provincial police chief Assadullah Sherzad said. The Afghan Interior Ministry said 21 people were killed and five others were wounded.

#2: A local police chief said that a Western airstrike hours later killed five farmers loading cucumbers into a taxi in a neighboring province. A U.S. spokeswoman said the men were militants placing weapons into a van. A U.S. Apache helicopter opened fire Wednesday night in neighboring Kandahar province when it spotted men it believed to be loading weapons into a van, said Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a U.S. spokeswoman. District police chief Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi said the five were farmers trying to move cucumbers from the rural Zhari district to the city of Kandahar around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

#3: A separate roadside bomb exploded next to a police vehicle on Thursday in another part of Helmand, killing five policemen and wounding three others, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#4: Taliban guerrillas ambushed trucks carrying supplies for foreign troops on a road linking the capital with the eastern region on Thursday, killing two drivers, the Interior Ministry said.

#5: Security forces killed seven militants and arrested 17 others in ongoing search and clearance operations in northwest Pakistan during past 24 hours, an army press release said Thursday.


Casualty Reports:

Lance Corporal Phil Le Gros, of 106 Field Squadron Royal Engineers, based in Greenhill, suffered a broken jaw, perforated eardrum and shrapnel wounds to his upper body. He was released from Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham this week after being treated for wounds sustained in the blast on July 23. The 30-year-old was with colleagues in Helmand Valley, Afghanistan when he was injured after the improvised explosive device (IED) exploded.

Army Spc. Brett Wolf was severely wounded when his minesweeper struck a bomb in Iraq. Wolf suffered severe arm and face injuries and his legs were amputated above the knee after the Sept. 11, 2007, blast.

British Lieutenant Guy Disney, aged 27, was injured when a rocket struck the Spartan armoured vehicle he was commanding during an attack on a Taliban stronghold in Helmand on July 4. In the same attack, Private Robert Laws of the Mercian Regiment. Disney lost part of his leg.

Army Specialist Brett Wolf lost his legs in Kirkuk, Iraq on September 11 2007. Someone with his unit made the decision to exit the same location they entered. Then, there was a huge explosion. "Somebody must've dug a a hole, put an IED in it before we came out," he said.


MoD: Craftsman Anthony Lombardi

DoD: Pvt. Keiffer P. Wilhelm