War News for Thursday, August 13, 2009

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, August 12th. The press have reported this to be an American soldier.


Aug. 11 airpower summary:

Iraq oil auction needs less foreign 'greed', says NOC chief:

As Afghan Vote Nears, Taliban Intimidation Rises:

A Window Into C.I.A.’s Embrace of Secret Jails:

Marine mission to protect Afghans slows progress:


Reported Security incidents:

Mahmudiya:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded three people in Mahmudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1:, Two bomb squad personnel on Wednesday were killed and four others were wounded while attempting to defuse a car bomb in Kirkuk province. “A booby-trapped car went off while bomb squad personnel were trying to defuse it near a Pepsi factory in Raheem Awa area, Kirkuk City, killing two of them and wounding four others,” a police chief in Kirkuk, Brig. Sarhad Qadir, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: While another roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in al-Quds street of center Kirkuk killed one and wounded five policemen. A vehicle was also damaged.


Mosul:
#1: Two employees working for a private telecommunications company on Wednesday were killed or wounded when a sticky explosive device targeted their car in Mosul city, according to a local security source. “This afternoon, a sticky device targeted a civilian vehicle in al-Majmoua al-Thaqafiya area, northern Mosul, killing one employee working for Fanoos Telecom, a private telecommunications company, and wounding another,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The bomb exploded inside the car around 50 meters away from the company’s headquarters,” the source added.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An improvised explosive device was defused by bomb experts in central Falluja, a security source said. “Acting on a tip-off, a team of anti-explosives experts defused an explosive charge which was targeting a record store in central Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The bomb was defused without causing casualties,” he added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, survived a Taliban ambush on Thursday in northern Kunduz province. The former president was travelling on a road in the Ali Abad district of Kunduz when the Taliban ambushed him with rocket propelled grenades and gunfire, said the chief of the district, Habibullah Mohtashim. Rabbani and those in his convoy were unhurt, while three fighters died in a clash with bodyguards and police, he added.

#2: For the second straight night, police battled insurgents until dawn in Kunduz's northern Dasht-e-Archi district, provincial police chief Abdul Razaaq Yaqubi told Reuters. Three policemen and eight insurgents died in the exchanges. "Clashes went on until this morning. An operation is under way to clear all areas of Dasht-e-Archi of Taliban," he said.

#3: In Helmand province in the south, a van drove over a roadside bomb, officials said. Three teenaged boys were killed by a landmine that detonated outside an orphanage in neighbouring Kandahar province, the Interior Ministry said.

#4: Helicopter gunships pummeled a key Taliban commander's bases in Pakistan's northwest, killing at least 12 insurgents Thursday as government forces ratcheted up pressure on the militants following their top leader's reported death, officials said. Military helicopters destroyed several bases and hide-outs Thursday morning near the Kurram and Aurakzai tribal regions run by militant commander Hakimullah Mehsud, three intelligence officials said. The attacks were on bases in tribal areas near the Afghan border, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the Mehsud clan's main base in south Waziristan.