War News for Monday, January 04, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an "explosion" in the vicinity of Patrol Base Blenheim, Nad e-Ali area of Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Sunday, January 3rd.

OIF (MNF-Iraq) is reporting the death of a United States Division – Baghdad Soldier from non-combat related injuries in an undisclosed location in Iraq on Friday, January 1st.

The CP is reporting the deaths of four American ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing in the Zhari district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, December 2nd. The CP states that they were 1st Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment.


Dec. 29 airpower summary: Dec. 30 airpower summary: Dec. 31 airpower summary:

4 Afghan War Veterans Look Back, and Ahead:

U.S. and British Embassies in Yemen Remain Closed:

Crackdown on alcohol seen as part of conservative moment in Iraq:


Reported security incidents




Kirkuk:
#1: The first blast took place around 9:30 a.m. targeting a police convoy, a Kirkuk police officer said. The officer said two guards of the city's police chief were in the convoy and both were killed in the attack. The police chief was not in the convoy.

#2: Another roadside bomb targeting a police patrol went off minutes later about 200 meters down the street, killing a policeman, the officer said.


Mosul:
#1: Five civilians have been wounded in a thermal bomb blast that ripped through downtown Mosul City, a local security source said on Monday. “On Monday morning, five civilians were injured when a thermal bomb hit a police patrol vehicle on al-Nujaifi St., downtown Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.None of the patrolmen was wounded in the blast, the source noted.

#2: Meanwhile, army forces have safely defused an explosive device on al-Qayara road (80 km south of Mosul), according to the same source.

#3: Five civilians have been wounded in a car bomb blast in Mosul City, a local police source said on Monday. “Today, a booby-trapped car went off in a market in Bartala district, eastern Mosul, wounding five civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

At least 13 people were wounded in a car bomb explosion at a popular marketplace in a predominantly Christian town near the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, on Monday, a provincial police source said. A booby-trapped car parked at a crowded marketplace in the town of Burtillah, some 40 km east of Mosul, detonated in the afternoon, wounding 13 people, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#4: An Iraqi army force on Monday killed a gunman while he was trying to attack a security patrol in Mosul City, according to a local source. “The gunman was killed while he was trying to throw a hand grenade at a patrol vehicle in al-Qahera neighborhood, northern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Hours earlier, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in the Hangu district of North West Frontier Province, killing former Irrigation Minister Ghaniur Rehman, his two guards and his driver, district police chief Abdur Rasheed said. Two police officers accompanying the former minister were wounded in the attack, he said. Rehman was affiliated with the Pakistan People's Party (Sherpao group) headed by former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, who has survived two suicide bomb attacks.

#2: The attack came after a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying anti-Taliban elders in the Bajur tribal area, killing two and critically wounding four others, local official Naseeb Shah said. The six men were working to set up an anti-Taliban militia in Bajur, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, said Shah. The men were on their way to meet local officials in the main town of Khar when the remote-controlled device detonated, Shah said. The blast occurred near Kassai, about 17 miles northeast of Khar, he said.

#3: The bullet-riddled bodies of a man and a woman were found in the Mamund area of Bajur on Sunday with a note saying they were guilty of violating Islamic law, local official Faromosh Khan said.

#4: AN Australian digger has received shrapnel wounds in a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan. The incident happened on December 30. The soldier, who is in a satisfactory condition in a hospital in Tarin Kowt, has spoken with members of his family. The Defence Department said the blast happened in southern Afghanistan. It also said another soldier suffered a hearing impediment in an incident earlier in December.

#5: An unmanned plane belonging to the U.S.-led Coalition Forces on Saturday night crashed in Yusuf Khil district of Paktika province in east Afghanistan, press department of the Coalition forces in the eastern region said Sunday. However, the press department ruled out the involvement of hostile fire in crashing the predator, stressing technical problems caused the incident.

#6: Norwegian troops, supporting Afghan police came under fire from insurgents during a mission on New Year's Eve. Several insurgents were killed, but the Norwegian patrol escaped without injuries. The fighting started outside the village of Ateh Khan Khwajeh, when the Norwegian patrol came under fire from several directions. The fighting lasted for seven hours, according to the Norwegian Defence.

#7: Afghan commandos killed more than 10 insurgents overnight after they staged a botched ambush against forces in northern Kunduz province, the Afghan defence ministry said on Monday. Only one soldier was wounded in the encounter, it said.