War News for Thursday, March 04, 2010

Birth Defects Linked to US Fallujah Fighting:

George 'W' Bush, Iran's Secret Weapon in Iraq:

U.S. Fears Election Strife in Iraq Could Affect Pullout:

General sounds alarm on U.S. Army training:

One PGCIL officer killed in Afghanistan:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-2: Iraqi police officials say nine people have been killed in two suicide bombings. The officials said insurgents wearing suicide belts targeted Iraqi security forces in both attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The suicide blasts took place after an explosion in a crowded market earlier Thursday killed seven people.

#1: At least four soldiers have been killed and 10 others wounded in another suicide bomb explosion at a polling center in central Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said. A suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest at Iraqi soldiers lining up at a school used as a polling center in Bab al-Mu'dham area in the afternoon, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: as another suicide bomber struck a bus carrying Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad's western district of Mansour, killing three soldiers and wounding 15 others.

#3: The suicide blasts took place after an explosion in a crowded market earlier Thursday killed seven people. Thursday's explosion in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad was the first known instance of fatal violence since polls opened Thursday morning.
The blast near the market entrance also wounded 32 others, a police official said. Early reports called it a roadside bomb, while later reports said it was a rocket.

#4: One civilian was injured on Thursday by a sticky bomb blast in central Baghdad, a police source said. “A bomb, stuck to a civilian vehcile, went off near al-Nahda bridge in central Baghdad, injuring the driver,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Wednesday detonated the house of a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official in Diala’s al-Saadiya district, wounding him along with two of his family members, a local police source said. “During an early hour on Wednesday, unknown gunmen blew up the house of Shakir Sultan, the deputy head of the Saadiya committee in the PUK, wounding him, his wife and one of his sons,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Six persons have been injured when a gunman threw a hand grenade at a checkpoint in eastern Mosul City, a local security source said on Wednesday. “This afternoon, an unknown gunman threw a hand grenade at an Iraqi army checkpoint in Darkazli area, eastern Mosul, wounding four civilians and two cops,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Three persons were wounded when a mortar shell fell on a residential area in southern Mosul, a local security source said on Wednesday. “This afternoon, a mortar shell fell on a residential building in al-Mansour area, southern Mosul, wounding a woman and two children,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Unknown gunmen on Wednesday killed a mosque imam in southern Mosul, a local police source said. “This afternoon, unknown gunmen assassinated a mosque imam in a village in Hamam al-Aleel area, southern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Two women were wounded on Thursday in a house explosion in western Mosul, a source from the Ninewa Operations Command. “Unknown gunmen blew up the house of the head of the Iraq alliance bloc in Ninewa in al-Yarmouk neighborhood, western Mosul, injuring two women,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion in the deserted house injured the two women who were in the nearby house,” he added.


Tal Afar:
#1: A police vehicle patrol was attacked by gunmen in northwest of Mosul on Thursday, according to a police source. “Unknown gunmen attacked a police vehicle patrol in al-Qalaa neighborhood in central Talafar, northwest of Mosul, without leaving casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The attack damaged one of the patrol’s vehicles, while security forces cordoned off the whole area and started a security operation for the attackers,” he said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A police force managed on Thursday morning to foil an attempt to blow up a bridge in northern Ramadi, a media source said. “The force managed to defuse a vehicle crammed with explosives which was targeting al-Jazeera bridge in northern Ramadi,” Major Rahim Zubn told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The forces arrested the driver who was wearing an explosive belt,” he added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Five Pakistani construction workers have been shot dead by unidentified gunmen on motorcycles in southern Afghanistan, officials say. Another Pakistani was injured in the attack. The workers were waiting for transport to take them to a road-building project in Kandahar province. One report said that the victims were working for an international construction company on a project to repair a road connecting Kandahar city to Panjwayi district.

#2: About 200 militants with rockets and automatic weapons attacked a military checkpost in Pakistan on Thursday, killing one soldier and wounding four, a military official said. Up to 30 militants were killed in clashes that followed in the Mohmand ethnic Pashtun tribal region in the northwest, two days after the army announced it had made major progress by clearing Taliban and al Qaeda fighters from one of their nerve centres in a neighbouring region. "About 200 militants were involved in the attack on the checkpost. We are chasing the remaining terrorists," said a military official.

#3: Separately, the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary said it had killed 38 militants and arrested 18 in a week-long operation near the northwestern garrison town of Kohat.

#4: A roadside bomb has killed at least three Afghan civilians and wounded three others in the southern province of Helmand, police say. Helmand police chief Assadullah Shirzad told Press TV on Thursday that the explosion happened in Nawa district late Wednesday. Those killed include a man and two women while a woman and two children were injured, he added.


MoD: Corporal Richard Green