War News for Thursday, December 16, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, December 16th.


BP had gas blowout in 2008: Wikileaks ( follow the money - whisker )

Security Council ends Saddam-era Iraq sanctions

Germany: pullout from Afghanistan to start in 2011

Pakistan closes strategic NW highway

Afghan Report Sees July Troop Pullouts Despite Perils

Administration's next big Afghan battle: How many troops to withdraw

NATO Push Deals Taliban a Setback in Kandahar

Taliban Extend Reach to North, Where Armed Groups Reign


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three civilians were wounded Wednesday in an improvised explosive device explosion in Baghdad, according to a security source. “The bomb exploded on Wednesday (Dec. 15) near a Shiite parade near al-Muthanna police station in Zayouna region, eastern Baghdad, injuring three civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Three civilians have been wounded in an explosive charge blast against a Shiite procession in Baghdad, security source said non Thursday.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In Diyala, the Iraqi security forces raided two houses in northern and southern the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, arresting two women who confessed they had been prepared to carry out suicide attacks against processions of Shiite pilgrims in the city, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Kut:
#1: Five Katyusha rockets hit the U.S. Delta base in western Kut on Thursday, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen fired five Katyusha rockets toward the U.S. Delta base in western Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The U.S. army asserted that no rocket landed inside the base, pointing out that the rockets may landed outside the base.


Dujail:
#1: One police officer and seven civilians were wounded Thursday in 10 explosions in south of Tikrit, according to a source from the Salah al-Din Operations Command. “Ten explosive charges went off simultaneously this morning in al-Dujeil district, south of Tikrit, injuring a police major and seven civilians, including a woman and a child,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Security forces managed to defuse six more bombs and imposed a curfew,” the source added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Fourteen civilians were killed when a roadside bomb hit a minibus in Afghanistan remote west on Thursday, a spokesman for the local governor said, many of them members of the same family. "The military forces have reached the site and they say that 14 people have been killed and four wounded," Shafiq Behroozyan, a spokesman for the governor of western Herat province, told Reuters.

#2: Earlier, a Nato air strike in the southern province of Helmand killed four Afghan soldiers who were mistaken for militants, Afghan officials said.

A mistaken airstrike in Afghanistan by NATO-led coalition forces killed four members of the Afghan National Army, a local official said Thursday. The airstrike was in the Musa Qala district in Helmand province Wednesday, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Justin E. Schmalstieg

DoD: Lance Cpl. Jose A. Hernandez