War News for Monday, August 15, 2011

The French MoD is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier from a small arms attack/gunshot wounds in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan on Sunday, August 14th. Here's the ISAF release.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED blast in the Shaparak area of the Nahr-e Saraj (South) district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, August 12th. Here's the ISAF release. (note: isaf release was posted on Sat. Au. 13th. post)

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, August 13th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, August 14th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, August 14th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploded near a convoy carrying officials from the Ministry of Higher Education, said police and health officials. Eight people were wounded, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The minister was not inside the convoy.

#2: Five booby-trapped cars have been dismantled in Iraq’s Diala, Salahal-Din and Najaf Provinces, have been dismantled on Monday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

#3: The Chairman of Iraq’s Technical Education Commission, Mahmoud Shaker al-Mulla Khalaf, has escaped an assassination attempt by a booby-trapped car west of Baghdad on Monday, according to a Baghdad security source. “A booby-trapped car blew off on Monday morning against the motorcade of the Chairman of Iraq’s Technical Education Commission, Mahmoud Shaker al-Mulla Khalaf, while on his way for his work in west Baghdad’s al-Mansour district on Monday, causing damage to a number of the motorcade’s cars, but no human casualties,” the Official in-charge of the Commission’s Protection told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In Diyala province, seven bombs went off in the capital of Baquba and towns nearby, said Faris al-Azawi, the spokesman for the Diyala health directorate. Five soldiers were killed in Baquba while five people were killed in other attacks around the province.

#2: The official in charge of the Branch of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in Saadiya township of northeast Iraq’s Diala Province, has been killed, together with his bodyguard on Sunday, Diala’s Security Committee Chief reported. “An armed group, belonging to al-Qaeda Organization, had blocked the road on PUK’s Saadiya Branch’s official, Abbas Hassan Rashid, in his township, 155 km to the northeast of Baaquba, the center of Diala Province, killing him and one of his bodyguards on the spot,” Dilair Hasan told Aswat al-Iraq news Agency.

#3: The Governor of northeast Iraq’s Baaquba city, the center of Diala Province, has escaped an assassination attempt on Monday, the third of its kind this year, a Diala security source reported. “An explosive charge blew off on Monday morning in the main street passing through Baaquba city, targeted against its Governor, Abdullah al-Hayali, but caused no human casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: The worst violence came in the southern city of Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, where twin explosions went off as construction workers were gathered in a market selling generators and other appliances. Police spokesman Lt. Col. Dhurgam Mohammed Hassan said the first bomb went off in a freezer used to keep drinks cold. Then as rescuers and onlookers gathered, a parked car bomb exploded. The head of the provincial security committee in Wasit province, Shamil Mansour, said 35 people were killed; another official put the number of injured at 64.


Najaf:
#1: Just outside the holy city of Najaf, a suicide car bomber plowed his vehicle into a checkpoint outside a police building, said Luay al-Yassiri, head of the Najaf province security committee. Police opened fire on the vehicle when the driver refused to stop at the checkpoint, and then the vehicle exploded. Al-Yassiri said four people were killed and 32 injured; among the dead were two policemen and two civilians.


Karbala:
#1: Just outside Karbala, a parked car bomb targeting a police station killed three policemen and injured 14 others, according to two police officers. Neither wanted to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

#2: A booby-trapped car has blown up close to the Hindiya bridge in southwest Iraq’s holy city of Karbala on Monday, according to a security source. “A booby-trapped car blew off this morning (Monday) close to the Hindiya bridge in Karbala city,” the security source said, giving no further details.


Tikrit:
#1: In the northern city of Tikrit, two men wearing explosives belts drove into a heavily guarded government compound wearing military uniforms which helped them avoid notice by the guards, said Mohammed al-Asi, the provincial spokesman. The men parked their vehicle and then walked to a building housing the anti-terrorism police. When the men approached the building, the guards ordered them to stop and then opened fire. One bomber was immediately killed but the other managed to get inside the building before blowing himself up and killed three people, al-Asi said. Ten people were also injured in the attack.

Two suicide bombers attacked an Iraqi counter-terrorism unit in Tikrit city on Monday, killing at least two policemen and wounding six in a failed attempt to free al Qaeda prisoners, a police official said. One attacker detonated his suicide vest hoping to kill a high-ranking counter-terrorism officer and the other was shot dead during the attack, Capt. Jassim al-Jibouri, an officer with the Tikrit counter terrorism unit, said. "They were attempting to reach the prison that holds more than 100 al Qaeda inmates," Jibouri said. A hospital source said three policemen were killed and nine wounded in the attack.

“The first suicide gunman blew himself up at the entrance of the Directorate of Terrorism, killing a police colonel and a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Balad:
#1: Al-Asi said 16 people were also injured in the city of Balad when a roadside bomb went off near a fuel truck.

#2: Six Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast, close to the Municipal Council of Balad township, south of Salahal-Din Province on Monday, according to a security source. “An explosive charge blew up close to the building of the Municipal Council of Balad township in Salahal-Din Province on Monday morning, wounding 6 civilians,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.


Kirkuk:
#1: In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb exploded next to a police patrol Monday morning, injuring four police officers.

#2: Then about thirty minutes later one person was killed when a motorcycle with a bomb planted inside it exploded.

#3: Late Sunday, four bombs also blew up near a Syrian Orthodox Church in Kirkuk. No one was injured in the attack but the walls of the church were damaged.


Mosul:
#1: “Two sticky bombs blew up on Monday morning in al-Fisaliya district, east of Mosul, killing a civilian and wounding 3 others,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that both charges were laid on an electric pole and blew up at the same time.

#2: In another security incident, the same source stressed that “an explosive charge blew up on Monday, close to the Electric Stores in Mosul’s Taamim district, wounding a protection unit element in the Electricity Stores.”

#3: “An unknown person allegedly left behind a cartoon box close to the stores, loaded with an explosive charge that blew up when a security element tried to check the box. The explosion wounded the person, who was driven to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the security source said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three Iraqi policemen have been killed and two others were injured in two explosive charges blasts in Ramadi, the center of west Iraq’s Anbar Province, on Sunday, an Anbar Police source reported. “Three policemen have been killed and two others injured in two explosions, targeted against a police patrol, while passing through a main Ramadi street on Sunday,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The Finnish Defence Forces made a statement on Saturday according to which a group of Finnish and Swedish troops came under fire on Saturday morning in the Balkh region in northern Afghanistan. The soldiers were on out on patrol with local Afghani officials when they came under attack by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. A Swedish soldier and an Afghani police officer were wounded in the attack.

#2: Afghan and Coalition forces have killed and detained 38 insurgents from various parts of the country during the last 24hours. A statement issued to Wakht News Agency by the Ministry of Interior said Monday that 20 armed insurgents were killed while 18 others were detained during the operations which were conducted by Afghan and Coalition forces in Faryab, Balkh, Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, Khost, Paktia and Paktika areas.

#3: Police say insurgents have attacked a district government center in eastern Afghanistan, sparking a gunbattle that lasted for hours and left a police officer and four militants dead. Ghazni provincial Police Chief Gen. Zirawer Zahid says Monday's firefight took place in Qarabagh district. He says the attack started early in the morning and lasted "several hours" before the militants retreated.

#4: Some unidentified miscreants set ablaze a Nato oil tanker by opening fire near Kamra on Monday. Police said that miscreants attacked the tanker carrying oil for Nato troops stationed in Afghanistan near Kamra. The tanker caught fire as a result of gunshots.

#5: Two Australian soldiers serving with Mentoring Task Force – 3 were wounded overnight (Australian Eastern Time) when the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle they were travelling in struck an insurgent-laid Improvised Explosive Device. The blast left one Australian soldier with serious wounds and another suffering minor wounds. The incident occurred during a routine Mentoring Task Force activity in the Mirabad Valley region of Uruzgan province yesterday afternoon (local time). Both soldiers were travelling in the Bushmaster when the Improvised Explosive Device detonated and they suffered wounds consistent with the concussive force of an explosive blast.


Fr. MoD: caporal Kisan Bahadur Thapa

Fr. MoD: légionnaire de 1ère classe Gerhardus Jansen

DoD: Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long

DoD: Sgt. Edward J. Frank II

DoD: Spc. Jameel T. Freeman

DoD: Spc. Patrick L. Lay II

DoD: Spc. Jordan M. Morris

DoD: Pfc. Rueben J. Lopez