War News for Monday, August 16, 2010

The Washington Post is reporting the death of an American soldier from an insurgent attack in Baquba, Diyala province, Iraq in Sunday, August 15th.


US backs Afghan plan to ditch security contractors

Afghan police seize 17 tonnes of explosive material

Petraeus Opposes a Rapid Pullout in Afghanistan

Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Four civilians were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car went off in eastern Baghdad. “The blast occurred last night in Palestine Street, eastern Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday.

#2: An IED went off near a civilian vehicle in al-Amiriya, western Baghdad, leaving two on board and another nearby wounded and causing severe damage to the vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Another IED blast targeted an Iraqi army patrol in the area of Camp al-Rasheed, southeastern Baghdad, leaving two soldiers wounded and damaging their vehicle, the source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing one Iraqi man and wounding 10 Iranians, in the town of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a source in the security operation centre of Diyala province said. Another police source in the town said the incident involved a parked car bomb.

#2: A U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) crashed yesterday evening in Iraq’s Diyala province, approximately 2 kilometers northeast of Muqdadiyah. The small UAV impacted an open area outside of a residential suburb after experiencing engine problems.


Mahmoudiya:
#1: “An IED went off at the entrance of al-Mahmoudiya town, (30 km) southern Baghdad, leaving one civilian killed and three others wounded and damaging vehicles near the blast site,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: “Another IED attached to a civilian vehicle went off in Abu Ghraib area, (25 km) western Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounded two others who were on board and causing severe damage to the nearby buildings and vehicles,” the source added.


Karbala:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Sunday used guns with silencers to rob a gold shop in Karbala city, wounding four civilians. “An armed group driving an OPEL car robed today a gold shop at the al-Nassir neighborhood, 3 km southern Karbala,” an eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that the gunmen used guns with silencers. “They wounded a number of people, including the shop’s owner, and then they escaped to an unknown place taking away gold items and money from the shop,” the eyewitness added.


Umm Qsar:
#1: The U.S. Navy said Sunday that gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles had boarded four commercial ships in a two-hour time span in the vicinity of an Iraqi oil terminal in the northern Persian Gulf on Aug. 8. The assailants took computers, cell phones and money from crew members before fleeing, according to Lt. John Fage, a spokesman for the Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The vessels were identified as the American ship Sagamore, the Antigua-flagged Armenia, the North Korean Crystal Wave and the Syrian Sana Star. The seaborne robbery — which occurred about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the port of Umm Qasr in an area patrolled jointly by the U.S. and Iraqi navies — raised concern about a new threat in the strategic area.


Basra:
#1: “A roadside bomb went off today near the house of a police officer (major) in the 50-Hosh area, 7 km north of the Basra city, causing damage to the house but without any casualties,” the source added.


Mosul:
#1: Two policemen were killed and three others wounded in two separate attacks with improvised explosive devices in western and southern Mosul city on Sunday, a local police source said. “An IED went off in al-Tojjar neighborhood, western Mosul, near a police patrol of the 7th Emergency Contingent, leaving a policeman and three others injured,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“A second IED went off near a federal police patrol on the Baghdad road, southern Mosul, killing a patrolman,” the source added.

#3: One Iraqi army soldier was killed on Sunday and another wounded when unknown gunmen attacked an army checkpoint eastern Mosul city. “The attack occurred in the al-Qadissiya al-Thaniya neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Gunmen shot dead a policeman manning a checkpoint in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#5: A civilian was killed and his son wounded during a shootout when Iraqi army forces chased suspected militants in eastern Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A policeman was wounded after gunmen waged an attack with hand-grenades on Sunday, a source in al-Falluja police said. “Unidentified gunmen on a bicycle attacked a Falluja police patrol that stopped in the area of Jubail, southeastern Falluja, with hand-grenades, leaving a patrolman wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Five civilians were killed and 20 others were wounded when a bomb exploded at a funeral in southern Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Monday. Daud Ahmadi said a Taliban bomb detonated on Sunday in Sangin, a district in Helmand province, killing at least five civilians and injuring 20 others. 'People were gathered in a cemetery to bury a woman when the blast occurred,' he said.

#2: A NATO airstrike killed five insurgents when they were trying to plant mines on a road in Sangin's Mullah Adam area on Sunday.

#3: Four civilians sustained injuries as a suicide bomber blew himself up in Afghan north province of Kunduz on Monday, police said. "A terrorist planted explosive device in bicycle and blew himself up in Aqtapa bazaar of Qalai Zal district this morning wounding four innocent civilians including three children," district police chief Syed Ibrahim told Xinhua. The suicide bomber was also killed in the blast, he further said.


MoD: Sapper Darren Foster

MoD: Rifleman Remand Kulung