War News for Sunday, May 23, 2010

MNF-Iraq (OIF) is reporting the death of a 15th Sustainment Brigade Soldier from non-combat related injuries presumably in northern Iraq on Thursday, May 20nd. (we are suspect to this release)

MNF-Iraq (OIF) is reporting the death of United States Division-North Soldier presumably during combat in northern Iraq on Friday, May 21st.

The French MoD is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier in an IED attack in Orzgan Province on Saturday, May 22nd.

The Netherlands MoD is reporting the death of a Dutch ISAF soldier in an IED attack in Orzgan Province on Saturday, May 22nd. Four additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.

NATO is reporting the death of a third ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 22nd.


Taliban earns 1,600 pound bounty for each NATO soldier killed:

Into Kandahar, Yesterday and Tomorrow:

Results of Kandahar offensive may affect future U.S. moves:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One civilian was killed on Sunday when a sticky bomb went off in western Baghdad. “The bomb was attached to the victim’s car,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A magnetic bomb that was stuck to the car of Omar Abdullah, Sahwa leader of Tu'ma neighbourhood, Dora, south Baghdad detonated in Dora, at 9.30 a.m. Saturday. The explosion killed Abdullah straight away.


Kirkuk:
#1: Four security guards were injured Sunday when two explosive devices detonated near the entrance of an oil company in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police source said. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation for those behind the blast, which targeted the North Oil Company, northwest of Kirkuk, Helo Nagat, of Kirkuk police, told the German Press Agency dpa.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Unknown gunmen detonated two houses of two policemen in east of Ramadi city. “The two houses and nearby houses were damaged in a two separate incidents,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Sunday. He noted that the two blasts caused no casualties.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Insurgents attack NATO's southern Afghan base. It was the second such attack on a major military installation this week. Several coalition troops and civilian employees were wounded in Saturday night's assault, but there were no reports of deaths, officials said. Militants unleashed rockets and mortars about 8 p.m. (1530 GMT) and then tried unsuccessfully to storm the northern perimeter, officials said. Artillery and machine-gun fire reverberated through the base, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, for more than three hours afterward. One of the rockets hit a shop-lined boardwalk where soldiers go in the evening to socialize. A bloodstain could be seen on the walkway outside a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant on the boardwalk Sunday morning, said Maura Axelrod, a reporter with HDNet who was inside the base.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Armada told The Associated Press that its fighters attacked the base from two sides and fired more than 15 rockets. On Saturday night, at least five rockets struck the Kandahar base in the initial attack, said Navy Cmdr. Amanda Peterseim, a spokeswoman for NATO forces at the base. Witnesses said explosions continued through much of the night. There were no reports of deaths and Peterseim did not have the precise number of wounded. "The alarm has been sounding for several hours, but no insurgents have penetrated the base perimeter," NATO said in a statement issued overnight. It said "a number" of military and civilian personnel were wounded "and are receiving medical treatment. There are no confirmed fatalities." NATO said troops and civilians were told to remain in bunkers as a precaution.

#2: In the east, meanwhile, the police chief of Andar district in Ghazni province was killed in a gunbattle with militants Sunday, said Yasouf Saraji, the district administrator.

#3: Five Afghan civilians were killed when an anti-tank mine left over from the Soviet invasion exploded as they were digging on their farmland, the interior ministry said on Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday in Khum-e-Zargar area of northeastern Kapisa province, it said.

#4: Two Afghan army soldiers were killed and five more wounded in an insurgent attack during a patrol in south and southeastern Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

#5: At least 30 militants were killed and 35 others injured in an air strike in northwest Pakistan's tribal area on Sunday, military sources said. Local officials on condition of anonymity told Xinhua that the causalities took place when Pakistani jet fighters pounded six different hideouts of the militants in Upper Orakzai tribal agency. Local sources said some skirmishes on ground also took place in the area, adding four vehicles were destroyed in the aerial attack. However, Pakistani army spokesman Major general Athar Abbas did not confirm the exact number of the casualties, saying that the operation in the area is continuing and causalities have occurred but the number could be confirmed a little bit latter.


MoD: Corporal Stephen Walker

MoD: Dutch corporal first class Luc Janzen