War News for Wednesday, September 21, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, September 21st.


U.S. assembling secret drone bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, officials say

Kurdish rebels attack police academy in Turkey

Iraq Rumaila Output Resumes; Fire Out - Officials

Assassination Deals Blow to Peace Process in Afghanistan

Key Afghan leader Rabbani killed in Kabul bombing

Troops Amputations Up Sharply In Afghan War -- The number of U.S. troops who had amputations jumped from 86 in 2009, to 187 in 2010, and 147 so far this year. All but about a dozen of those were in Afghanistan and the rest Iraq.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad, Mustafa Galib, a police colonel, was killed when a sticky bomb attached to his car went off in the western district of Ameriyah, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Baaquba's Police Commander and three of his body guards were hit in an assassination attempt by bomb directed against his convoy, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the commander was gravely wounded.

In Diyala, five soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol near a joint U.S. and Iraqi military base, some 80 km north of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from Diyala's operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: In a separate incident, a roadside bomb ripped through the village of Hwira, some 30 km southwest of Baquba, injuring three civilians, the source said.

#3: Also in the province, a man and his son were wounded by gunmen who broke into their house in the city of Maqdadiyah, some 40 km northeast of Baquba, the source added.


Balad:
#1: Three civilians were hurt in bomb blast directed against Iranian pilgrims in Balad city, south of Salah al-Din province, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that two consecutive bomb blasts resulted in the casualties, but none of the Iranian pilgrims was hurt. The two bombs were planted in a garbage box near a restaurant on the international route between Baghdad and Samara', the source added.


Mosul:
#1: A police colonel was killed by unknown armed group north of Mosul, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the armed group opened fire and killed him immediately at the entrance of his house.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Insurgents dressed in military uniforms launched a coordinated attack on a government compound in the western city of Ramadi on Tuesday, but the assault was partly foiled by local police, who had taken over security of the compound from the Iraqi army four months ago. Two police officers, one civilian and a leader of the Sons of Iraq, a Sunni counterinsurgency coalition, were killed by twin suicide bombs, said Brig. Mohammed Rashid, the police commander in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province. Fifteen policemen were injured in an ensuing firefight with five gunmen who breached the perimeter of the compound after the explosions. Police shot and killed the gunmen. They also fatally shot a third would-be suicide bomber before he could trigger his device.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace envoy assassinated a former Afghan president who for the past year headed a government council trying to negotiate a political settlement with the insurgents. Tuesday’s attack, in Burhanuddin Rabbani’s Kabul home by a militant who detonated explosives hidden in his turban, dealt a blow to efforts at ending a decade of war. NATO said in a statement that two suicide bombers were involved in the attack on Rabbani, both of them men who had feigned a desire to reconcile with the government. It was unclear if a second bomber was able to detonate his explosives. Afghan officials, however, insisted there was only one attacker. Four of Rabbani’s bodyguards also died and a key presidential adviser was wounded in the bombing, they said.

#2: At least 11 police officers were killed in a terrorist attack in the Afghan Province of Ghazni on Wednesday night, a local police chief said. The police officers were participating in an operation against a Taliban militant attack, he said. Militants first opened fire and triggered an improvised explosive device as the policemen entered a building. All police officers were killed. Nearby buildings were also destroyed.

Meanwhile, in the Waghaz district of eastern Ghazni province, nine Afghan policemen were killed Tuesday evening while they were trying to defuse a roadside bomb, said Gen. Zirawer Zahid, provincial police chief.

#3: Afghan police, backed by army and NATO-led forces, have killed 20 insurgents and detained 22 in different parts of the country over the past 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.


MoD: Marine David Fairbrother