War News for Wednesday, February 16, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, February 15th. News reports that a New Zealand soldier died from a vehicular accident near the village of Ferosak in the northeast of Bamiyan province. Three additional soldiers were injured in the accident.

News reports the death of an American soldier from a non-hostile related incident in an undisclosed location in central Iraq on Tuesday, February 15th.


Finnish Peacekeeper Dies in Afghanistan

Iraq Plans New Oil and Gas Auction .

Nato chief Petraeus to leave post by end of year: Report


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least 10 mortar shells were launched on Tuesday night against a military position, comprising U.S. and Iraqi police forces east of Baghdad, a security source said on Wednesday. "About 10 mortar shells were launched on Tuesday night on a joint position for U.S. and Iraqi police forces in east Baghdad's former General Security Directorate," the security source said, but did not define whether the attack had coased any casualties among the American and Iraqi police forces.


Diyala Prv:
#1: One policeman was killed and another one was wounded in a bomb blast in northwest of Baaquba, a security source said on Tuesday. “An explosive device went off on Tuesday (Feb. 15) targeting a police vehicle patrol near the main road of al-Hadid village, northwest of Baaquba, killing a cop and injuring another one,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not give more details.


Kut:
#1: A spokeswoman for a southern Iraqi province says around 2,000 people attacked government offices and tried to set fire to the governor's house to protest often shoddy public services. Sondos al-Dahabi said Wednesday that 13 people were injured in the protest in the city of Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad. She says protesters threw stones at the provincial council headquarters, set a trailer outside on fire and rushed inside the building. They also went to the governor's headquarters and his house, trying to set it on fire. Al-Dahabi says the governor was not at home.

#2: An interpreter of the U.S. engineering team working in Wassit was killed by a gun shot in eastern Kut, a source close to the U.S. army said on Tuesday. “An Iraqi interpreter was killed on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 15) by a sniper while accompanying Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in al-Damouk neighborhood in eastern Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Karbala:
#1: A U.S. Army patrol had been target for an improvised explosive device (IED) close to a checkpoint north of the Shiite holy cit of Karbala on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said. "We heard the noise of an exmplosion, which was due to an IED blast that targeted a U.S. Army patrol, coming back from northern Karbala on Wednesday," the eyewitnesses said, adding that one of the patrol's vehices had been the target of the attack, but failed to report any material or human losses.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen stormed a house in Iraq's ethnically divided northern oil hub Kirkuk on Tuesday and kidnapped three Turks who were inside, police said. The five attackers entered the house in the south of the city in which eight Turkish workers and engineers were living and snatched three of them, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the kidnappers were armed with four pistols and a Kalashnikov rifle, and carried out the raid at around 8:30 pm (1730 GMT).


Mosul:
#1: One civilian and two guards were wounded on Tuesday in a hand grenade explosion in the city of Mosul, a police source said. “An unknown gunman threw a hand grenade at the back door of the Central Bank in al-Jomhouriya street in the city of Mosul, injuring two of the bank’s guards and a passing civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A tribal chieftain of west Iraq's Ramadi city and his brother have been killed by a group of unknown armed men on Wednesday, an Abar Police source said. "A group of unknown gunmen, dressed in military uniform, attacked the house of Sheikh Ali Dayih in Garban area of Habbaniya city, east of Ramadi, instantly killing him and his brother," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Four Afghan civilians have lost their lives when an errant missile fired by US-led forces struck their house in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. The US-led forces fired a missile which missed its target and hit the residential building. Parts of the structure were damaged in the incident, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wedneday.


News: Private Kirifi Mila

News: Senior Lieutenant Jukka Kansonen

MoD: Lance Corporal Kyle Marshall