War News for Monday, November 01, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from gunshot wounds in the Nahr-e Saraj North, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 30th. News reports he died from sniper fire. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 23rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 27th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 28th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, October 29th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 30th.

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Pfc. David R. Jones Jr. died from a non-combat incident in Baghdad Iraq on Sunday October 24th. News reports he died from a gunshot wound to his head.

The DoD is reporting another new death unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Phillip C. Tanner died in an undisclosed non-combat incident at Ali Al Salem, Kuwait on Tuesday, October 26th.

The DoD is reporting a third new death unreported by the military. Spc. Diego A. Solorzanovaldovinos died in Landstuhl, Germany on Friday, October 29th. He was wounded from small arms fire in the Yahya Khel district, Paktika Province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 27th.


UK 'will not send troops to Yemen'

Deal struck on Swedish troops in Afghanistan

Iraqi forces storm church to end standoff; 37 killed


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Fifty-two hostages and police officers were killed when security forces raided a Baghdad church to free more than 100 Iraqi Catholics held by al Qaeda-linked gunmen, a deputy interior minister said on Monday. Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal said 67 people were also wounded in the raid on the church, which was seized by guerrillas during Sunday mass in the bloodiest attack in Iraq since August. The death toll was many times higher than that given overnight in the hours after the raid. The gunmen took hostages at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, one of Baghdad's largest and demanded the release of al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt. "This death toll is for civilians and security force members. We don't differentiate between police and civilians. They are all Iraqis," Kamal said, adding the number did not include dead attackers. At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighbourhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.

Police stormed the church two hours later. At least 25 hostages are believed to have been killed. Seven members of the security forces and five gunmen also died.

#2: Before seizing the church, the attackers, who were wearing suicide vests, reportedly attempted to break into a stock exchange building in Baghdad. As a result, two security guards who tried to stop the assailants were killed.

Two guards were killed and four others were wounded in the earlier attack on the stock market, according to the police officials. The attackers also remotely detonated two car bombs outside the stock exchange, they said.


Taji:
#1: A bomb attached to a car belonging to Adnan Atallah, a leader of a government-backed Sunni militia, exploded in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, killing him and wounding three passers-by, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: “A group of armed men, using a pickup, have opened fire on a citizen in front of his house in Kirkuk’s al-Urouba district late Sunday night, killing him on the spot,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq News Agency.


Riyadh:
#1: In another incident, the same source said that an explosive charge went on in front of a police officer’s house in southwest Kirkuk’s al-Riyadh village, late Sunday night, but caused no human casualties.


Mosul:
#1: Four Iraqi soldiers were wounded when two mortars landed at an Iraqi army base in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A U.S. drone attack killed five people in northwest Pakistan on Monday, local intelligence officials said, the latest in a barrage of such strikes against al-Qaida and Taliban militants that have long sought sanctuary in the region. The missile or missiles struck a house in North Waziristan, the area that has seen the overwhelming majority of attacks over the last two months, said the officials, who did not give their names because the agency they work for does not allow its operatives to be identified.

#2: Also in northwest Pakistan, gunmen opened fire on tankers carrying fuel for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, wounding a driver and his assistant, said police officer Nisar Khan. The attack happened close to the main northwestern city of Peshawar, he said.

#3: The Taliban briefly overran a district seat in eastern Afghanistan, torching government buildings and capturing police officers after an intense gunfight, officials said Monday. The government was back in control of Ghazni province's Khogyani district headquarters a few hours later, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary, adding that three rooms in the government headquarters had been burned and a vehicle damaged. He did not have any information on casualties. All the police guarding the district headquarters were either killed or taken prisoner, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, and their weapons and vehicles were confiscated. He put out a press release later saying the Taliban had left the district after damaging the headquarters.

#4: A roadside bombing targeted car of district governor in northern Kunduz province injured two bodyguards on Monday, the district governor Habibullah Mohtasham said. "The bomb planted on a motorbike and exploded by remote- control at 07:45 a.m. local time when my car was passing the area as a result two of my bodyguards were injured," Mohtasham told Xinhua. Mohtasham who is serving as governor of militancy-hit Ali Abad district said,"I escaped the blast miraculously and received no injury."

#5: Two cops were killed while eight others including four policemen were injured when four suicide bombers tried to enter Shah Mansoor police lines in district Swabi on Monday morning.Talking to APP Commissioner Mardan Division Akbar Khan said that two policemen embraced martyrdom whereas four others were wounded in the suicide attack. He said that both the suicide bombers were killed and search operation was underway in the nearby areas of Shah Mansoor. Swabi police told this scribe that one of the bombers detonated the explosives tied to his body at the gate of the Shah Mansoor Police Station whereas the second one escaped in the nearby fields and exploded later and shot dead by the chasing police party. However the search for the remaining two bombers is underway. The police confirmed that two cops were killed and four injured whereas four civilians were also wounded in the terror act out of which one Sher Afzal s/o Sherzada was serious and was shifted to Peshawar.

#6: Two bomb blasts damaged a railway line in the southern city of Hyderabad, police said.

At least four people were injured in two small intensity blasts that took place around a railway track in south Pakistan's city of Hyderabad on Monday, police sources said. The blasts twisted almost two feet of railway lines near Qasimabad residential area between Kotri and Hyderabad, local police said. Heavy contingent of police along with bomb disposal squad have reached the site. The tracks are being repaired by the railways staff, said an official of Pakistan Railways.

During the same month, five bomb explosion attempts targeted railway track in Sindh. Four bomb blasts had significantly damaged railway track in district Ghotki near Sukkur in Sindh province. While one of the two planted bombs exploded partially damaging a railway track in Bin Qasim area of southern port city of Karachi.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Adam L. Dickmyer

DoD: Lance Cpl. Terry E. Honeycutt Jr.

DoD: Spc. Pedro A. Maldonado

DoD: Spc. Diego A. Solorzanovaldovinos