War News for Wednesday, June 15, 2011

MNF-Iraq (OND) is reporting the deaths of Two U.S. service members while conducting operations in an undisclosed location in southern Iraq on Monday, June 13th.

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


C.I.A. Building Base for Strikes in Yemen


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons attacked an Iraqi military checkpoint and killed one soldier in Baghdad's northwestern Shula district, an Interior Ministry source said.

“A group of unknown gunmen have attacked an Iraqi Army checkpoint in the Rahmaniya area of northwest Baghdad’s al-Shu’ala city. An exchange of fire took place, which resulted in the killing of a soldier.

#2-3: A roadside bomb wounded two street cleaners in Baghdad's southern Doura district and another bomb wounded four people in the same area, a security source said.

“Two explosive charges blew up in southern Baghdad’s Daura district; the first in Street No. 60, wounding 3 sanitation workers, and the second in Tu’ma area, also in Daura district, wounding 4 civilians,” the security source added.

#4: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed an army lieutenant-general as he was driving in his car in the northern Baghdad district of Binoog, an interior ministry source said.

#5: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed two soldiers in the Jamiaa district in the west of the city, the interior ministry source said.


Amarra:
#1: A military airport in southern Iraq’s city of Amara, the center of Missan Province, had come under a two Katusha rocket attack on Tuesday night, according to a Missan security source on Wednesday. “Al-Buteira Military Airport, 5 km to the northwest of Amara city, had come under an attack by two Katusha rockets on Tuesday night,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the two rockets fell on a position, used by the Iraqi Army as its headquarters in the area, causing no human or material losses, adding that the Iraqi Army forces had imposed a cordon around the areas, close to the venue of the attack.


Dujail:
#1: Security sources in Dijail area reported than unknown gunmen wearing Iraqi army attire killed four persons from the same family. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the deceased were the father, mother and two sons, but left 15-year girls before fleeing.


Kirkuk:
#1: Ten Iraqi army men, including two officers, have been injured in a mortar shell attack on a checkpoint in northern Iraq’s oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, a Kirkuk security source said. “A motar shell fell on a checkpoint, belonging to the Iraqi Army’s 15th Division, in Al-Rashad village, 35 km to the southwest of Kirkuk, wounding 8 soldiers and 2 officers,” he said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen in a speeding car attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint and killed two soldiers in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a policeman in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: A military source said today that a car bomb was captured and successfully dismantled north of Mosul city.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded four in a strike Wednesday on a governor's office in the northeast. Provincial spokesman Halim Ayar said the bomber blew himself up about 200 metres from the office of Governor Azizul Rahman Tawab in the northeast Kapisa province. He said four of the dead were police officers and four were civilians. All the wounded were civilians, he added. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that seven people were killed, including two police officers and five civilians. It added that seven others were wounded, including a police officer. The discrepancy in the casualty numbers, which is common in the aftermath of such attacks, could not immediately be resolved.

#2: Meanwhile, in central Wardak province, a mortar landed next to a large building where Afghanistan's second vice president, Mohammed Karim Khalili and Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi, along with NATO officials, celebrated the opening of the flagship centre of a multibillion dollar NATO program to train Afghan national security forces ahead of a planned withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces at the end of 2014. The deafening blast shook the building and more than 500 police recruits ducked for cover. Gunshots rang out after the attack. Bodyguards rushed Afghan and NATO officials into a hardened shelter before evacuating them on helicopters.

#3: Also Wednesday, in the southern province of Kandahar, the governor's office said NATO and Afghan troops killed 14 armed insurgents. Nine were killed after crossing the Pakistan border, while five were killed while allegedly trying to plant roadside bombs, the governor's office said.

#4: A rocket attack in Kandahar city wounded four civilians in the Aymo Mina district, provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq said.

#5: Gunmen attacked and torched two trucks carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, a paramilitary spokesman said. No one was hurt in the attack.

#6: A helicopter crashed in Kunar province 185 km east of capital city Kabul on Wednesday, an official said. "The chopper crashed in Mandapul, a suburban area of provincial capital Assadabad, at around 10 a.m. local time today. As a result, four foreigners and two Afghans were injured," spokesman for provincial administration, Wasifullah Wasifi, told Xinhua. However, he did not give further details.

#7: Two Swedish soldiers were lightly injured in connection with an explosion in north Afghanistan at 6pm Swedish time. The soldiers were on foot patrol when the explosion erupted. There was no fire fight in connection to this. The Swedish military do not know what was behind this. "It could have been a mine, a home-made bomb or a handgrenade.