War News for Saturday, May 14, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, May 13th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a shooting incident from an Afghan policeman at an Afghan National Civil Order Police compound in Helmand province on Thursday, May 12th.


Four American Lives and $4 Billion Wasted on Afghanistan War Since Bin Laden's Death


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-2: In Baghdad, eight people were wounded mostly policemen in two consecutive bombings. The first explosion targeted the car of Interior Ministry Major in Al Ghazaliya region. The second explosion detonated few minutes later targeting police forces who rushed in to the incident site. In Al Saadun Street, an alcohol store was damaged due to a bombing.

#3: Unknown gunmen opened fire in a drive-by shooting on Saturday morning on an interior ministry recruit near his house in Al Shaab District, northern Baghdad. The recruit was wounded due to the shooting, a source told Alsumaria. The recruit however fired back using his gun and killed two gunmen, the source added.


Diwaniya:
#1: Two Katusha rockets fell on the outskirts of the U.S. Echo Camp west of southern Iraq’s Diwaniya city early on Friday night, but losses were not known, a security source said. “Two Katusha rockets fell on the outskirts of the U.S. Army’s Echo Camp, 3 km to the west of Diwaniya on Friday night, but losses were not known,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Saturday.


Amarra:
#1: An explosive charge blew off against a U.S. Army patrol in southern Iraq’s Amara city, without causing human or material losses, the Chairman of the Security & Defense Committee of Missan Province’s Council said on Saturday. “An explosive charge blew off this morning (Saturday) against an American Army patrol, in central Amara,” Sarhan al-Moussawi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, saying that the “incident did not cause any human or material losses.”


Al Dour:
#1: In Salahuddin, a mortar round targeted Al Dour District Police Directorate, a source told Alsumaria.


Kirkuk:
#1: Kirkuk Police Chief Brigadier Jamal Taher Baker escaped an assassination attempt targeting his convoy when he was checking the house of head of Turkman Front Arshad Salehi in central Kirkuk that was targeted by a missile attack in the morning. The explosion wounded two civilians while the missile attack destroyed the house completely. No casualties were reported.


Mosul:
#1: A former candidate for the Iraqi Parliament by al-Iraqiya List, led by former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, had been assassinated, together with one of her guards, in northern Iraq’s city of Mosul in Thursday, a security source said on Saturday. “Al-Iraqiya Parliamentary candidate for the previous elections, Raw’a Naf’e al-Ugeidy, was shot dead, together with one of her guards, close to her house in eastern Mosul on Thursday afternoon, when a group of gunmen opened fire on her, also wounding another of her guards,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A medical evacuation helicopter, marked with the universally recognized Red Cross symbol, came under attack by insurgents yesterday while medical providers attempted to recover a wounded service member in Sangin District, Helmand province. Insurgents opened fire on the evacuation helicopter as it approached the designated landing area near where the service member had been injured by an improvised explosive device. A combined Afghan and coalition dismounted patrol conducting clearing operations struck an IED resulting in one coalition soldier wounded. The combined force moved to a nearby area suitable for a helicopter landing, and called for medical evacuation.

#2: A rocket was fired early Saturday morning at a base in Afghanistan housing Korea's aid workers and troops in the country, but no casualties were reported. Seoul's foreign ministry said the rocket fell about 200 meters away from the wall surrounding the base.

#3: Suicide bombers killed 80 people at a Pakistani paramilitary academy on Friday. The bombers struck as the recruits were going on leave and 65 of them were among the 80 dead. Many wounded, looking dazed with parts of their clothes ripped away by shrapnel, were loaded into trucks.

#4: Hours after the bombing, a U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles at a vehicle in Waziristan on the Afghan border, killing five militants, Pakistani security officials said.

#5: Afghan soldiers, backed by NATO-led forces, killed eight militants elsewhere in the conflict-ridden country since Friday morning, a statement released by the Defense Ministry said here Saturday. "Soldiers of Afghan National Army (ANA) backed by international forces during operations over the past 24 hours have killed eight anti-government insurgent elsewhere in the country," the statement asserted.

#6: At least five NATO oil tankers bound for Afghanistan caught fire on Friday after a bomb planted beneath one of them exploded, but there were no casualties, officials in Pakistan said. A remote-controlled device planted under one of the tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan went off, triggering a fire that engulfed four more tankers, local administration official Iqbal Khan Khattak said. The tankers were parked in the Torkham area of the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border. Khattak said that a total of 21 tankers parked in the terminal, but the other vehicles were safe after being moved away from the blast site. A local intelligence official confirmed the incident and said there were no casualties.

#7: Two Afghan policemen were killed during separate clashes with insurgents in Rashidan district of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, provincial police chief Delawar Zahed said. Two insurgents and one policeman were also wounded in the fighting.


DoD: 1st Lt. Demetrius M. Frison