War News for Monday, March 07, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, March 5th.


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Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “A mortar shell fell on a number of houses in northeast Baghdad’s Za’afaraniya Police district, wounding 7 citizens, also causing damage to the houses, whilst the wounded persons were driven to hospitals,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: He said that another shell fell close to west Baghdad’s al-Amel bridge, wounding 2 civilians, who were also driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

#3: A policeman and a civilian were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in southeastern Baghdad on Monday, a security source said. “An IED blast targeted a police patrol near the Technical Institute in al-Zaafaraniya area, southeastern Baghdad, leaving one policeman and a pedestrian injured,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Meanwhile, police forces seized a car bomb in al-Aadhamiya, northern Baghdad, and the bomb squad teams defused it without incident, the source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: “A combined force from the Iraqi army and police, backed by a U.S. force, raided the village of Lizaka, al-Huweija district, (65 km) southwest of Kirkuk. Armed clashes broke out between the force and people in a house, leaving a gunman and a security personnel killed,” Brig. Sarhad Qader, the director of the Kirkuk Districts Police Department (KDPD), told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A policeman was shot dead near his house in eastern Mosul city on Sunday, according to a local security source in Ninewa. “Unidentified gunmen in a vehicle opened fire on a policeman who was on a leave of absence from duty near his house in Aden neighborhood, eastern Mosul, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Policemen found the unidentified bodies of two men east of Mosul city on Sunday, a local police source in Ninewa said.

#3: A police force found the body of a student who had been kidnapped a few days ago west of Mosul city on Monday, a security source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: TWO people have died and 19 have been wounded, including police, in two bomb blasts in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The first explosion went off today in front of a mosque and, when police and locals rushed to the scene to help the wounded, a second bomb detonated, a provincial official Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told AFP. "In the blasts, two people were killed and 19 people were wounded," said Abdulzai, adding that most of the casualties were from the second explosion. The target of the blast is not known but there was a meeting at the mosque in the city's eastern edge. Another provincial official, speaking anonymously, added that pro-government religious clerics had been meeting at the mosque and they may have been the target.

#2: Nato forces in Afghanistan reportedly fired nine mortar shells into North Waziristan after their four helicopters intruded into the same area, official and tribal sources said on Sunday. The sources said that the nine mortars fell in Mir Ali tehsil, Spinwam tehsil and Titi Madakhel area at 7:00pm. There was no word about the losses because of disrupted communication system in the area. It may be added here that eight persons were killed in such an incident last month when five mortar shells were fired by the Nato forces from across the border into North Waziristan. Meanwhile, late on Saturday night four Nato choppers violated the Pakistan airspace and entered into Powara Mandi area in Miramshah, agency headquarters of North Waziristan. The Nato choppers intruded about five kilometres into Pakistan, the sources said. An official, pleading anonymity, confirmed that the Nato choppers violated the Pakistani airspace and returned after flying over the area for 10 minutes without taking any action.