War News for Thursday, March 31, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attacks in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, March 29th.


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Within Obama’s war cabinet, a looming battle over pace of Afghanistan drawdown


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One civilian was wounded on Wednesday by a sticky bomb explosion in western Baghdad, a security source said. “A bomb, stuck to the vehicle of Zuhair Mahdi, a member of the Baghdad council, went off in al-Yarmouk region, western Baghdad, injuring a passing civilian, while the official survived the attack,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diwaniya:
#1: One person was killed and two more were wounded in a Katyusha rocket attack on Wednesday evening in central Diwaniya, an army source said on Thursday. "The rocket hit a civilian car near a hospital in central Diwaniya, setting the car ablaze, killing a civilian and injuring two more," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tikrit:
#1: Update Casualties from the armed attack on the Salah al-Din council yesterday reached 56 dead and 91 wounded, a security source said. “Three of the local council members were killed in the raid, in addition to reporter of the al-Arabiya channel, Sabah al-Bazi, and Iman Salah, a journalist in al-Ayam al-Sabaa newspaper,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Security elements and a cameraman working for al-Fayhaa channel are among casualties,” he continued, noting that death toll likely to increase as several wounded persons are in critical condition.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two persons were wounded on Thursday by a tsicky bomb blast in southwestern Kirkuk, a security source said. "A bomb, stuck to a civilian car, went off in al-Matar street, near al-Maared, southwestern Kirkuk, injuring two civilians," Major Raed Abdulsalam Zankana told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A student was wounded on Thursday by U.S. army fire in southwestern Kirkuk, a police source said. "A U.S. army patrol opened fire on Thursday (March 31) on a bus carrying students in Dour al-Ray neighborhood behind the Kirkuk park in southwestern Kirkuk, injuring a student and damaging the vehicle," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. a passing eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that the U.S.
headquarters came under missile attack in the region, forcing the army to send a patrol to search the region. "They ordered the bus driver to stop, but he did not understand the order, forcing them to open fire on the bus, injuring a student."


Mosul:
#1: A civilian man has been killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast south of northern Iraq’s city of Mosul on Wednesday, a Ninewa security source reported. “A civilian man has been killed this morning (Wednesday), in an IED explosion close to his house in southern Mosul’s al-Yousef village,”

#2: A total of 13 civilians were wounded on Wednesday in a hand grenade explosion in central Mosul, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen threw a hand grenade on Wednesday afternoon (March 30) on a police vehicle patrol in Souq al-Shaareen region, central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber struck a convoy carrying a prominent hardline Islamist leader in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing 12 people in what was the second attack that targeted the politician in as many days, police said. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, told local TV after the attack in Charsadda town that he was unharmed but his vehicle was slightly damaged.
The 12 dead from Thursday's attack included at least three policemen, said Liquat Ali Khan, police chief in Peshawar city. The blast also wounded at least 20 people. It was unclear if the bomber was on foot or on a motorcycle.

#2: At least five civilians have been injured in a NATO missile attack in South Waziristan Agency in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Pakistani local media said two missiles were fired from Afghanistan's Paktika province where NATO forces are stationed, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday. Pakistani local officials say the missiles hit a market in Angor Adda area, injuring five civilians. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, the report added.

#3: NATO soldiers killed three Afghan civilians and injured four others after opening fire on a car which the force said had tried to attack a patrol in the city of Kandahar. Local police say it was just a traffic accident.

Four Afghan civilians and three NATO soldiers sustained injuries as a vehicle of the alliance struck a civilian car in Kandahar province 450 km south of capital Kabul on Thursday, police said. "The road accident happened in the north of the provincial capital Kandahar city at 09:00 a.m. local time as a result four civilians and three foreign soldiers were injured," deputy to provincial police chief Fazal Ahmad Shirzad told Xinhua.

#4: A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of NATO-led troops in Kapisa province, 70 km north of Afghan capital Kabul, on Wednesday, injuring nine people, including four foreign soldiers, a local official said. "It was a suicide attack carried out by militants against international troops in Tagab district at 2:30 p.m., which left four foreign soldiers and five Afghan civilians injured," police chief of Tagab district, Padshah Gul Bakhtyar, told Xinhua. Meantime, Zabihullah Mujahid, who claims to speak for the Taliban militants, in talks with media via telephone from undisclosed location claimed responsibility, saying a Taliban fighter, named Abdul Rahman, exploded his explosive-laden car next to a convoy of French troops, leaving himself and 12 French soldiers dead. However, police officer Bakhtyr rejected the claim, saying only nine persons sustained injuries in the blast.

#5: Pakistani security forces killed at least nine militants and destroyed their three hideouts on Thursday morning in the country's restive northwestern Kurram Agency, security sources said. According to sources, the security forces carried out a sudden search operation in Ali Sherzai, Chanarak and Spirkat of central Kurram Agency, Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. As the forces reached the said areas, some militants attacked them and in retaliation security forces shelled their hideouts, in which nine militants were killed. Later, security forces cordoned off the area to make the operation more successful.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Bryan A. Burgess

DoD: Pfc. Dustin J. Feldhaus