War News for Saturday, November 07, 2009

NATO is reporting the death of a third ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location is southern Afghanistan on Friday, November 5th. Note this is the release quoted by the Washington Post's article yesterday on the deaths of two American soldiers.


Two 82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers missing in Afghanistan: Two Paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division went missing Wednesday in a routine resupply mission in Western Afghanistan.


Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public:

US: More foreign troops certain in new Afghan plan:

Yemeni Rebels and Saudis Clash at Border:


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: An IED went off near a civilian vehicle in al-Saadiya area, the district of Khanaqin, (155 km) east of Baaquba, leaving two civilians wounded. They were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: A bicycle loaded with explosives killed a local Sunni Arab leader and wounded three bystanders in Abu Ghraib in the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said.


Amarra:
#1: An improvised explosive device that was about to go off was found inside al-Sadr Public Hospital in central al-Amara city, a local police source in Missan said on Saturday. “The Missan Police Department’s Facility Protection Force (FPF) personnel found a large IED planted inside the hospital’s consultative clinic but the bomb squad men defused it,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen shot dead a local pro-government militia member in southwest Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad on Friday, police said.


Rashad:
#1: Gunmen shot and killed Sahwa (a U.S. backed militia later turned over to the government) member Mohammed Ibraheem in a small village in Rashad district, to the southwest of Kirkuk city late Thursday.


Mosul:
#1: Five people, including three policemen, were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a police patrol in western Mosul city on Friday, a security source in Ninewa said. “The IED went blast targeted a police patrol near the Medical School in al-Shifaa neighborhood, western Mosul, leaving three policemen and two civilians wounded.

#2: A policeman was shot dead by gunmen fire in central Mosul city on Saturday, a local security source in Ninewa said. “Gunmen opened fire at a policeman from a gun attached with a silencer on al-Corniche street, central Mosul, while he was on duty in the vicinity, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Shifaa neighbourhood in western Mosul, Friday, injuring three policemen and two civilians.

#4: A roadside bomb hidden inside a plastic bag targeted a police patrol in Mahatta neighbourhood, central Mosul, Friday, killing one policeman.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Friday Insurgents in a speding car threw a hand grenade at a checkpoint near the Second Bridge in western Fallujah injuring three policemen. The police manning the checkpoint returned fire injuring two civilians.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghanistan's Defence Ministry said Saturday that a NATO airstrike in the western province of Badghis mistakenly hit a joint base housing coalition troops and Afghan security forces, killing four Afghan soldiers and three policemen. NATO would not comment on whether an airstrike had taken place. Defence Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said an Afghan army commando unit, district police members and foreign forces were in the base in the Bala Marghab district at the time of the airstrike Friday afternoon. Roauf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the western regional police commander, said the airstrike also wounded 15 Afghan soldiers and one policeman.

#2: On Friday, NATO headquarters in Kabul said more than 25 NATO and Afghan security forces members were injured during a search for two U.S. paratroopers missing from a resupply mission since Wednesday. Five of those injured were NATO troops, said Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a spokesman for the alliance forces. He said it was not yet clear how they had been hurt.
Vician said no NATO soldiers had been killed in the operation. Officials indicated that it was unlikely the two missing personnel from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, had been taken captive. Local police said the two Americans were swept away by a river in the western province of Badghis when they tried to retrieve supplies that had been airlifted and had accidentally fallen into the water. NATO would provide no details of how they went missing, but said the search was continuing Saturday.

#3: Separately, the deputy governor of the southern province of Zabul, Ali Khail, said NATO forces raided an Afghan Red Crescent office in the city of Qalat early Saturday, killing a security guard and arresting three local Red Crescent employees. NATO headquarters issued a statement saying coalition forces killed a militant and arrested "a few" suspected militants, including someone who was helping insurgents transport weapons and bomb-making materials to the area. Red Crescent spokesman Walid Akbar confirmed that international forces had raided the office, but said he had not received any reports of deaths.

#4: Pakistani soldiers killed 12 militants in gunbattles over the past day, officials said Saturday, as government forces pressed on with their offensive in the mountainous Taliban sanctuary of South Waziristan. The military said while the army has taken control of two former strongholds - Sararogha and Ladha - there were still occasional clashes with militants. The army was still battling for full control of Makeen, which they call the "nerve center" of the Pakistani Taliban.
The fighting left a total of 12 militants dead and five Pakistani soldiers wounded over the past 24 hours, the military said in a statement.

#5: Taliban militants killed three Pakistani soldiers in an assault on a check post in the northwest as the military pressed its ground and air offensive, according to officials. Taliban militants killed three Pakistani soldiers in an assault on a check post in the northwest as the military pressed its ground and air offensive, according to officials. The militants launched a rocket and gun attack on a paramilitary post in Torawari area of Hangu district late Friday, a security official said. Three soldiers were killed in the raid, he said. A senior police official said the attackers were Taliban militants who came from the neighbouring tribal region of Kurram. Security forces based in a nearby fort responded by killing at least six attackers, police and military officials said.

#6: A roadside bomb struck a vehicle in the Mohmand region on the Afghan border, killing two people, intelligence officials said. Troops killed two militants in a separate clash elsewhere in the region.

#7: Two women teachers were wounded when a grenade was thrown into a school in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said.

#8: Clash between two former local commanders in Takhar province northeast Afghanistan claimed the lives of three persons including a teacher and his pupil, a local official said Saturday. "A gun battle erupted between two former commanders namely Abdul Awal and Abdul Qahar in Farkhar district on Friday as a result three persons including a teacher and a student were killed," Abdul Aziz the district chief of Farkhar told Xinhua.


MoD: Serjeant Phillip Scott

DoD: Spc. Julian L. Berisford

DoD: Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador