War News for Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “An explosive charge blew up on the main road in al-I’ilam (Media) district in southern Iraq’s Daura district, killing a civilian and wounding 7 others on Monday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: He said that the second explosion took place in al-Amirat Street in west Baghdad’s Mansour district, when a booby-trapped car blew up against a motorcade of Iraq’s Higher Education Ministry, wounding 5 civilians.

#3: He added that “an explosive charge blew up in southeastern Baghdad’s Zaafaranya district, killing one civilian and wounding five others,”

#4: whilst the 5th blast took place in northwestern Baghdad’s Ghazaliya district, close to a primary school, wounding 5 civilians.”


Iskandariya:
#1: Two civilians have been killed and two others were injured in a booby-trapped car explosion in Iskandariya township of west Iraq’s Babel Province on Monday, according to a security source. “A booby-trapped car, parked on the main roadside in Iskandariya township, 50 km to the north of Hilla, the center of west Iraq’s Babel Province, blew up on Monday, killing 2 civilians and wounding 2 others, including a policeman,” the security source reported.


Youssifiyah:
#1: Gunmen wearing military uniforms have pulled seven people from a Sunni mosque south of Baghdad and then shot and killed them, execution-style, according to reports. The killings happened late on Monday. The gunmen walked into the Sunni mosque in Youssifiyah during evening prayers, took the seven men outside and shot them, according to witnesses. The men were all members of an anti-al Qaida militia.


Mussayab:
#1: Four Iraqi policemen have been killed and four others injured in a mortar shell that fell on a police checkpoint in Mysayab township in southwestern Iraq’s Babel Province on Monday night, a Babel police source reported. “A mortar shell fell on Monday night on a police checkpoint in Musayab township, 40 km to the northeast of Hilla, the center of Babel Province, killing 4 policemen,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that a Musayab Police patrol headed towards the venue of the attack, but one of its cars overturned, wounding 4 policemen.


Amarra:
#1: Five rockets fell on the Buteira military airport, north of the city of Amara, the center of southern Iraq’s Missan Province, on Monday night, causing no human or material damage, a Missan security source reported. “The Bueira Military Airport, 10 km to the northwest of Amara city, had been target for a five rockets attack, that caused no human or material losses,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Tuesday.


Taji:
#1: “The third explosion took place in Um al-Jadail village in northern Baghdad’s Taji district, by a booby-trapped car that blew up against an Iraqi Army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding 4 others, along with 5 civilians,” the security source said.


Suliamaniya:
#1: The bodies of 3 persons, belonging to one family, had been discovered in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan city of Sulaimaniya, with traces of bullets attack, according to a security source on Tuesday.


Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi policeman has been injured in an attack by unknown gunmen in southwest Kirkuk on Tuesday morning. “Unknown gunmen have opened fire on a checkpoint in southwest Kirkuk on Tuesday morning, injuring one of its policemen, whilst the gunners flew for an unknown destination,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.




Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suspected US drone attack has killed four militants in north-western Pakistan, local intelligence officials said. The drone fired a missile, destroying a house in a market in Miranshah town in North Waziristan tribal district.

#2: An 18-year-old woman working for the Afghan government was killed in Kandahar on Tuesday. Rabia Sadat, who worked on rural development, was shot dead as she left home in the southern city of Kandahar to go to work at around 8:00 am (0330 GMT), provincial spokesman Zalmai Ayoubi said.

#3: Near the city (Kandahar), three suicide bombers struck at a fuel depot for foreign forces, killing four security guards late Monday. The facility belongs to logistics company Supreme and is near the sprawling Kandahar airfield where thousands of foreign troops are based and which acts as a hub for operations across south Afghanistan. The police commander for southern Afghanistan, General Salem Ihsas, said four Afghan guards working for a private security firm were killed in the assault at around 9:00 pm. He said eight other guards -- three from Nepal and five from Afghanistan -- were wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the compound gates. A third was shot dead in an ensuing gun battle.

#3: Afghan police, backed by army and NATO-led forces, have eliminated 12 insurgents and detained 28 others around the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army (ANA) and Coalition Forces launched 10 joint operations over the past 24 hours in surrounding areas of the Kabul, Kunar, Kapisa, Helmand, Paktia, Zabul, Logar, Ghazni, Kandahar and Khost provinces," said a statement issued by Interior Ministry here. "As a result of these operations, 12 armed insurgents were killed and 28 other armed insurgents were arrested," the statement said.

#4-7: Nine NATO oil supply tankers and a freight truck were set ablaze in attacks in Pakistan on Monday.

#4: A bomb exploded as two NATO oil tankers were entering a terminal in Torkham, a Pakistani tribal town bordering Afghanistan. The flames also set three other tankers alight.

#5: A sixth vehicle, a truck loaded with supplies for NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan, was also burnt in the ensuing blaze, said Mutahar Zeb, an administrator in the lawless Khyber tribal district.

#6: Zeb said that separately two more NATO tankers were damaged and a driver and his helper were wounded when militants fired at them, but the vehicles did not catch fire.

#7: Elsewhere, gunmen fired at up to 10 NATO oil tankers parked outside a roadside restaurant in the central Pakistani town of Adda Mohammad Wala, 100 kilometres west of the city of Multan. "Four oil tankers were burning and we have requested the fire brigade from neighbouring districts, a police official said. "We do not know about the casualties yet."

#8: Lucky the explosives detection dog working in Afghanistan has been declared missing in action, and is probably dead. The golden Labrador broke away from his handlers in the Australian Special Forces and Afghan National Police force during a fight on July 4.

#9: A policeman and four Taliban insurgents were killed overnight when militants attacked government offices in central Afghanistan, the local police chief said on Monday. The attack in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province lasted about an hour and started when the Taliban launched two rockets at the district’s administrative headquarters before opening fire on a police checkpoint nearby. Police shot back, triggering a gun fight, but insurgents did not get inside the compound, Ghazni police chief Dilawar Zahid said. “Four militants and a policeman have been killed in the clash,” Zahid said.


MoD: Lieutenant Daniel John Clack

DoD: 2nd Lt. Joe L. Cunningham