War News for Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Spc. Ethan L. Goncalo died from a non-combat related incident in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, December 11th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, December 14th.


Weir to plead guilty to breaking UN sanctions over Iraq

UN to end Saddam-era sanctions on Iraq

1 year into Afghan surge, no clear breakthrough

Diggers forced to free Afghan insurgents

Progress Report on Afghanistan War to Be Released


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-2: nine other Shiite pilgrims were wounded in two separate attacks in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. Five pilgrims were wounded when a mortar struck their procession in southeastern Baghdad, while four others were hurt in a roadside bombing, according to the official.

Five civilians were wounded in a mortar shell attack in east of Baghdad on Monday, according to a security source. “The shell hit a Shiite gathering in Mahalt 729 in al-Mashtal region, east of Baghdad, injuring five civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

An explosive charge, planted by unknown gunmen in a civilian car, blew up in southern Baghdad’s Assyrian area in Daura district, wounding four civilians, who were driven to west Baghdad’s al-Yarmouk Hospital for treatment,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Three persons were wounded Monday in an improvised explosive device blast in Baghdad, according to a security source. “The bomb exploded in al-Atiefiya region near Bratha mosque, northern Baghdad, injuring two guards and a civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: The same source also said that a bullet-riddled body of a man in his 40s was found in al-Amel district, southwest of Baghdad, but gave no further details.


Diyala Prv:
#1: At least four people were killed and 17 were wounded in a suicide bombing north of Baghdad on Monday, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry. The suicide bomber struck a group of Shiites in the town of Balad Ruz, just east of Baquba, said Maj. Ghaleb al-Atiya, police spokesman in Diyala province.


Hilla:
#1: A man and his wife were killed and his son was wounded in a bomb explosion in northern Babel, a police source said on Monday. “An improvised explosive device went off on Monday (Dec. 13) near a civilian’s house in Ajbela region, northeast of Hilla, killing the house’s owner and his wife and injuring his son and damaging the house,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diwaniya:
#1: The U.S. Army base in southern Iraq’s Diwaniya city had become target for a two Katyusha rockets attack on Monday night. Thick smoke was seen coming from the base, according to an Iraqi military source on Tuesday. “The two rockets fell on Monday night on the U.S. Echo Army base, 3 km to the west of Diwaniya, causing the rise of heavy smoke from the base,” the military source, who spoke under anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that U.S. choppers flew over the area after the attack. He said the rockets were launched from Shafi’iya village, 8 km to the west of Diwaniya. The area was cordoned off by security forces following the attack.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in the centre of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, and two of the gunmen were wounded when armed citizens returned fire, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The Danish army says a bomb blast has seriously injured one of its soldiers in southern Afghanistan. The roadside bomb wounded a member of an infantry unit while he was on patrol near Gereshk on Tuesday. He was airlifted to a Danish field hospital and underwent surgery.

#2: Thirty suspected Taliban militants were killed by Afghan forces and a NATO airstrike in the northern province of Baghlan, the provincial governor said Tuesday. Afghan police and soldiers clashed with a large number of insurgents in Ahmadzai village in Danah-e-Ghori after they began a 'clearing operation' Monday morning, Munshi Abdul Majeed said. NATO bombed the insurgents, who were entrenched in outer areas of the village, he said, adding that 'at least 30 Taliban fighters were killed in ground fighting and an airstrike.' A rocket fired by NATO aircraft destroyed a school, but there were no immediate claims of civilian casualties, the governor said.

#3: A suspected U.S. missile strike killed four militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border on Tuesday, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The missiles hit a vehicle believed to be carrying the four suspected militants from North Waziristan's main town of Miran Shah to Tappi, an area surrounded by mountains, said the two officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

#4: Militants killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded six in an overnight attack on a security post in the northwestern Mohmand region on the Afghan border, a paramilitary force spokesman said.

#5: Gunmen attacked a Sufi shrine and shot dead two of its caretakers on the outskirts of Peshawar, police said.


DoD: Spc. Ethan L. Goncalo

DoD: Staff Sgt. Stacy A. Green