War News for Monday, March 29, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, March 29th.


Obama makes secret trip to Afghanistan:

In Afghan Trip, Obama Presses Karzai on Graft:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A Finance Ministry employee has been killed when a sticky bomb hit his car in the capital Baghdad, a local police source said on Monday. “A sticky improvised explosive device (IED) hit a civilian vehicle in Abi Dasheer area, al-Doura neighborhood, southern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A magnetic bomb stuck to a civilian car exploded in Mansour neighbourhood at 7 a.m. Sunday seriously injuring the driver.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted two Sahwa members in Jihad neighbourhood, west Baghdad, Sunday injuring them both.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted civilians in Bataween neighbourhood, central Baghdad, Saurday, injuring five.

#5: A sniper shot and killed Khaleel Ibraheem al Ubaidi, a Sahwa commander in Athamiyah neighbourhood, north Baghdad, Saturday.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Seven police personnel have been injured in an explosive charge blast in Diala’s Baaquba, a local security source said on Monday. “On Sunday evening, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near the house of the Katoun mayor in Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. When police forces arrived at the scene of the blast, another explosive device went off on a main road in the area, wounding seven of them, according to the same source.


Karbala:
#1-2: Iraqi police say a pair of car bombs in the holy city of Karbala killed at least four people and wounded 22, with the second blast detonating near the provincial governor's home.

#1: Police officials said the first booby-trapped car exploded about 12:30 p.m. on Monday near a kindergarten and across from a restaurant popular with police about half a mile from the revered Imam Hussein shrine.

#2: The second blast went off minutes later just 50 yards (meters) away in a residential street near the governor's residence. He was not near either blast.


Basra:
#1: The Iraqi army arrested a group of gunmen who were planning to fire rockets at Basra airport, where the U.S. forces are stationed, a security source said on Monday. “Those arrested had a launch pad in their possession,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.The arrest was made in al-Touba area (15 km northwest of Basra), the source pointed out.


Kirkuk:
#1: Police forces on Monday found the body of a man who had been kidnapped by gunmen near Kirkuk, a local police chief said. “During an early hour this morning, police forces have found the body of Mutaz Nayef Dawoud al-Luhaybi, born in 1987, near Laylan district (10 km south of Kirkuk),” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The body bore signs of gunshot wounds, the official noted.The man, a resident of al-Orouba neighborhood, southern Kirkuk, had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen, who stole his vehicle, the official pointed out.

#2: One police officer was wounded when gunmen clashed with police late on Sunday in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Sunday One civilian has been injured in an explosive charge blast in downtown Mosul, a local security source said on Sunday. “At noon, an improvised explosive device (IED) hit a Federal Police patrol vehicle in al-Farouq area, downtown Mosul, wounding one civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: An unidentified gunmen blew up a house that belongs to a Shamar clans chief in western Mosul city on Sunday, a police source in Ninewa said. “The gunmen detonated the house of Sheikh Harroush al-Salem Abdulaziz al-Djerba, a tribal chief of the Shamar clans in Iraq, in western Mosul neighborhood of al-Thawra,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The gunmen raided the house and claimed that they were secret detectives that evacuated the house and blew it up,” the source added.

#3: Clashes between police and insurgents killed a civilian who works with the police and wounded another in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A NATO helicopter crashed Monday in southern Afghanistan, injuring 14 people, the international force said. The coalition said no one is reported to have been killed in the helicopter crash and that all personnel on board were evacuated to nearby medical facilities. Jilani Farah, deputy police chief in Zabul province where the crash occurred, said 14 people were injured, including international service members, three Afghan soldiers and one Afghan policeman. NATO confirmed that 14 people were injured in the crash, and said that none of them sustained life-threatening injuries.

#2: Taliban militants fired at least one rocket at a principal US military base in Afghanistan hours after President Barack Obama ended a surprise six-hour visit, officials said Monday, DPA reported. Hours after the president left Bagram airfield, where he spoke to about 2,000 soldiers, the base came under a rocket attack, Jeffery Loftin, a NATO spokesman in Kabul said."There was an indiscriminate fire, but there were no causalities," he said, noting that Obama "was already gone" when the rocket hit.The Taliban said in a statement posted at their website that three rockets were fired into the base.

#3: An Australian soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded on Sunday, following a series of incidents over the weekend involving Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). The soldier and the interpreter were travelling as part of a foot patrol in the Mirabad region of Oruzgan Province on 28 of March 2010 when they were struck by the blast from an IED. The interpreter suffered serious wounds while the soldier was only slightly wounded.

#4: On Saturday, three Australian soldiers and two Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded in multiple IED incidents.Commander Joint Task Force 633, Major General John Cantwell, said the combined Afghan and Australian patrols were involved in 10 separate incidents over the weekend, eight involving IEDs and two small-arms fire attacks.

#5: The Pakistani Army reportedly killed 22 Taliban insurgents near the Afghanistan border on Sunday after a group of militants attacked an army base with rockets and utomatic weapons. The Dawn quoted Samiullah Khan, a Pakistani government official, as saying that the fighting occurred in the Orakzai tribal region where the army is on the offensive. He added that security forces first killed 10 militants in a retaliatory attack and the military helicopter gun ship later bombed hideouts in the Chapri Ferozkhel area, killing another 12.

#6: Some unidentified hijackers took away a truck here near Hasanbadal, carrying goods for the NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan on Saturday, said police sources on Sunday. According to the sources, the truck was snatched near Burhan in the Hassanabdal Police Station jurisdiction on March 22. Talking to APP, the investigation officer Mumtaz Khan said, the truck bearing number Y-0057, comprising crew namely Ihsan Ul Haq, Hazrat Ali and Bakhat Rawan, was carrying goods for NATO forces, when the hijackers garbed it by pretending themselves as custom personnel. They forced the truck crew to sit in their vehicle and took them away, which were freed up later.


MoD: Lance Corporal of Horse Jonathan Woodgate

MoD: Rifleman Daniel Holkham