War News for Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Italian DM is reporting the deaths of four soldiers in a roadside bombing in the Gulistan district, Farah province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 9th. One additional soldier was wounded in the attack.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from separate IED attacks in undisclosed locations in southern Afghanistan on Friday, October 8th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was severely wounded from a bullet shot by a sniper hiding in a building in Raas al-Hawaash area in al-Aadhamiya district, where clashes that erupted with gunmen later left two civilians injured, according to a police source on Friday. “The Iraqi soldier was standing in a checkpoint in the area when he received a sniper bullet. He was seriously wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Clashes erupted after the incident between the checkpoint personnel and unidentified gunmen, leaving two civilians wounded,” he added.

#2: Four civilians were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the southern Iraq area of al-Dora on Saturday, according to a local security source. “A roadside IED planted near a busy shopping market on 60 street in al-Dora, southern Baghdad, went off today (Oct. 9), leaving four civilians wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: Four prison guards in Basra were wounded when some inmates attacked them with hand-grenades on Friday, according to a local security source in the province. “One of the guards is seriously injured before security forces wielded control over the situation by throwing tear gas canisters on the assailants in al-Maaqal jail,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Armed men in two boats wounded seven security guards when they attacked a prison situated alongside a river in Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a police source said. A riot broke out amongst prisoners after the attack and security forces responded by using tear gas.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: A civilian man was killed and four of his family members wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen on his house in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib on Saturday, according to a security source. “The gunmen raided a house in the village of Hemeid, Abu Ghraib, western Baghdad, leaving the house owner killed and four of his family relatives wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Three civilians were wounded in an improvised explosive device attack in western Mosul city on Saturday, a police source in Ninewa said. “An IED went off on Saturday near a local police patrol on Ibn al-Atheer intersection, western Mosul, leaving three civilians who happened to be near the attack site wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “None of the patrolmen were injured in the explosion,” he added, not giving more information.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen wearing black uniforms on Saturday shot dead three people, two of them brothers, near the restive city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, police said. "It happened early in the morning when the gunmen entered the victims' homes," said Lieutenant Colonel Yasin Mohammed, adding that a fourth person was shot and wounded. Mohammed said the victims were hauled out and shot in front of their homes in the village of Garma, east of Fallujah in predominantly Sunni Arab Anbar province. All four worked for the ministry of higher education, the brothers as administrators and the others as a guard and driver, the police officer said.

#2: A leader of a sahwa (awakening) group survived an assassination attempt with an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to his vehicle in eastern al-Falluja city on Saturday, according to a local police source in al-Anbar province. “Sheikh Hikmat Muhammad, a leader of the al-Karma District Sahwa Group, escaped an attempt on his life with an IED attached by unidentified persons to his civilian vehicle in eastern Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A female British aid worker kidnapped during an ambush last month was killed during a rescue attempt by international forces in Afghanistan, Britain's foreign secretary said Saturday. The aid worker, identified as Linda Norgrove, was killed Friday night during an operation to free her, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement from London. Norgrove and three colleagues were kidnapped in eastern Kunar province on Sept. 26 after being ambushed. Police fought a gunbattle with the kidnappers near the attack site before the assailants fled.

#2: Gunmen armed with a rocket torched 29 NATO oil tankers in southwestern Pakistan before dawn Saturday. Two responding police officers were wounded. Local government official Abdul Mateen said the attack occurred in the area of Mithri, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. He said the attackers used guns and fired a rocket to destroy the tankers. At least 10 gunmen were involved in the attack, police official Jamil Khan said. The oil tankers were parked near a roadside restaurant. When local police responded, the gunmen fired on them before fleeing. One officer was wounded by a bullet, while another suffered slight burns as he tried to stop the blaze, Mateen said.

#3: An AUSTRALIAN soldier is recovering in Afghanistan after he was wounded by an exploding roadside bomb, the Australian Defence Force (ADF)says. The soldier from the Special Operations Task Group suffered superficial wounds when the vehicle he was travelling in struck an improvised explosive device (IED) in northern Kandahar six days ago, a statement from the ADF said today.

#4: NATO-led troops killed two Taliban commanders in Afghanistan's Wardak province, a press release of the alliance released here Saturday said. "The International Security Assistance Force confirmed Mullah Hezbollah, the deputy Taliban district leader for Chak-e Wardak of Wardak province, was killed during an overnight operation in the province Thursday," the press release said. Another commander, according to the press release, is Qari Sulayman, who was responsible for a Taliban senior leader responsible for coordinating and conducting improvised explosive device, indirect and direct fire attacks against coalition forces operating in Tange Valley. Based on intelligence tips, the security force targeted a series of compounds east of the village of Paysh Kor in Chak-e Wardak district, the press release further said.


DoD: Cpl. Stephen C. Sockalosky