War News for Monday, October 31, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 30th.


Diplomat says attack killed 9 Americans - The unidentified diplomat told CNN the nine Americans killed included four U.S. troops. Others killed in the attack included two British civilians believed to be civilian contractors, a Kosovo national and a Canadian soldier.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a lawyer's car went off, killing him and wounding a nearby traffic policeman late on Sunday in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, police and hospital sources said


Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons stormed the house of a member of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia and held women and children inside the home while they killed the Sahwa member and his brother outside, in the town of Khan Bani Saad, 30 km (20 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire at an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing a soldier, and planted a bomb that killed two other soldiers when they responded to the scene, late on Sunday in the eastern outskirts of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, local police said.


Mosul:
#1: Security sources said today that two soldiers were killed by a bomb blast west of Mosul city. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb was directed against a military patrol west of Mosul.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide vehicle bomb struck a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices in the southern city of Kandahar early Monday, killing four people and severely damaging a U.N. agency's building, Afghan officials said. Gunmen then rushed into the neighborhood and seized control of at least one building, sparking a battle with Afghan and NATO forces, Kandahar police chief Gen. Abdul Razzaq said. The firefight lasted more than two hours before the two insurgents were shot dead, according to a statement from the provincial governor's office. Immediately after the 6:15 a.m. bomb attack, two insurgents rushed into the area and seized control of an animal clinic near the office of the International Relief and Development organization, said provincial police spokesman Ghorzang, who like many Afghans goes by one name. The blast caused extensive damage to the offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR. Earlier reports said three security guards in the area were killed, but Mohammad Faisal, an official with the Kandahar provincial media office, said three civilians and one policeman were killed. Three civilians and a Nepalese guard were also wounded, said Faisal.

#2: Unidentified armed men kidnapped driver and cleaner of an oil tanker carrying supply for NATO troops in Afghanistan near Mach area of Bolan district on Sunday. According to Levies sources, armed men signalled to stop a NATO oil tanker carrying fuel from Karachi to Quetta. The driver tried to flee but armed men opened fire at the vehicle bursting the tyres of the oil tanker. Levies sources said the armed men took the driver and cleaner to some unidentified location on gunpoint.

#3: Suspected US unmanned aircraft fired six missiles at a vehicle in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border Sunday, killing six alleged militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

#4: A provincial cabinet minister from Pakistan’s main ruling party escaped unhurt on Oct. 31 when Taliban militants opened fire on his vehicle in the country’s troubled northwest‚ officials said. Amjad Khan Afridi‚ minister for housing and physical planning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province‚ was traveling in his bulletproof car when militants hiding in the Bilitang area of Kohat district opened fire‚ police said. “Militants fired three sniper shots from the nearby hills. One bullet hit the car’s windscreen. The minister is safe‚” Mubarak Zeb‚ police chief in Kohat district‚ said. “The minister was the target and militants were involved in this attack‚” he added.

#5: A Taliban leader was killed during a security operation by the Afghan National Police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Nangarhar province, south-east of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement. One suspected insurgent was detained.

#6: Three insurgents were killed during a week-long security operation by the Afghan National Police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Nimroz province, south-west of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement. One suspected insurgent was detained.


AU/MoD: Captain Bryce Duffy

AU/MoD: Corporal Ashley Birt

AU/DoD: Lance Corporal Luke Gavin

News of the Day for Sunday, October 30, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Mosul

Five police killed in roadside bomb attack, several shops are damaged.

A woman is killed by unknown gunmen.

Baghdad

A rocket falls in Jadiriya district, injuring two civilians.

Karbala

Three U.S. helicopters land near an Iraqi checkpoint, and the occupants arrest an Iraqi and transport him to an unknown destination. Yeah, that's weird. No explanation as of yet.



Other News of the Day

PM Al-Maliki says that security forces have arrested 615 people associated with the former Baathist regime. (We have yet to hear reaction to this but earlier announcement of smaller numbers of arrests led to accusations of sectarian motives. -- C)

Although U.S. forces are leaving Iraq, they are staying nearby. U.S. officials say the U.S. plans to increase the number of troops deployed elsewhere in the Gulf region, including Kuwait. "[T]he administration and the military are trying to foster a new "security architecture" for the Arabian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defence."

Muqtada al-Sadr calls on Maliki not to visit Washington as he has recently indicated he will do. Al-Sadr criticizes what he calls U.S. "control and domination over the Iraqi territories and people, both politically and ideologically and so on, outside the military aspects."

U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstructions singles out sewage treatment plant in Fallujah as a case study in the failure of the reconstruction effort. Excerpt:

"It is clear that US officials did not fully appreciate Fallujah's security environment and the impact it would have on (the main contractor) FluorAMEC's ability to design and construct the wastewater treatment system," SIGIR said.

The watchdog added that, at the time the contract was awarded, US officials had little knowledge of the infrastructure and environment of the city and were unable to visit to conduct site surveys, leading to unrealistic cost estimates and projected timeframes.

As time went on and costs increased, meanwhile, promised funding often did not materialise, causing contractors to stop work, SIGIR said. It added that US officials did not adequately consult with the Iraqi government, leading to major re-designs years into the project schedule.

"In the end, it would be dubious to conclude that this project helped stabilise the city, enhanced the local citizenry's faith in government, built local service capacity, won hearts or minds, or stimulated the economy," the report said.

And while they're at it, Iraq will not be fully able to defend its borders and airspace until at least 2020, a watchdog quoted Iraq's top general as saying in a report on Sunday, months before US troops are to leave. "The Iraqi military's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, "estimated that it will take several more years before Iraq can provide for its external defence without assistance from international partners," said the report from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)."

Afghanistan Update

Reports on the suicide attack on a U.S. military bus in Kabul yesterday are still sketchy and contradictory as to the casualty totals and the nationalities of the dead. CNN is now reporting that ISAF says there were 17 dead, of whom 5 were ISAF troops and 8 foreign civilians, plus 4 Afghans. However, other reports say thirteen U.S. troops were killed. We will have to await clarification.

Afghan military claims to have killed 8 insurgents in an operation in Helmand Province. Says nothing about government casualties.

Roadside bombing in Kandahar injures a provincial official who had formerly been aligned with the Taliban.

I've had a power outage, so I'm racing the computer battery, I'm afraid. Will have to leave it at that for now. -- C

War News for Saturday, October 29, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an apparent friendly fire/gunshot wounds attack when an Afghan ANA soldier turned his weapon on the soldiers in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 29th. The Afghan AnA soldier also died in the attack. News reports these are Australian soldiers.


Coalition forces attacked in Kabul


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An employee of the Iraqi Ministry of Science & Technology has been killed in an explosion against his car in west Baghdad on Saturday, an Iraqi security police source reported. "Tareq Hashem, an employee of the Ministry of Science & Technology, has been killed in an exposion in his car in west Baghdad's Saydiya district on Saturday, the security police source said, adding that 2 other persons, who happened to pass close to the blast have been injured.


Wassit Prv:
#1: Two goldsmiths have been killed and their shops stolen in the southern Iraq's Wassit Province by unknown gunmen on Saturday, a Wassit security source reported. "Two brothers, working as goldsmiths have been killed by unknown gunmen in Hafriya township, 105 km to the north of Kut, the center of Wassit Province, on Saturday," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the gunmen, who stole a large quantity of gold ornaments and other valuables, had escaped to an unknown destination.


Nassiriya:
#1: Fire extinguishers have managed to put off a large fire in an oil storage in southern Iraq's Nassiriya city, without causing losses, according to the Chairman of the Security Committee in southern Iraq's city of Nassirya, the Chairman of the Security Commission reported on Saturday. "The Fire Extinguishing Team has succeeded to put off a fire in an oil storage, close to Shatra township, 45 km to the north of Nassiriya, caused by an oil pipeline leakage, followed by a fire that was caused by unknown armed men," Sajjad al-Assadi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the security bodies had laid a special guards point close to the oil storage after the incident to protect it from similar acts.Nassirya, the center of Thi-Qar Province, is 365 km to the south of Baghdad.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War
#1: Insurgents attacked a convoy of Afghan and international troops on Friday in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan, setting off a gun battle that left about 30 militants dead, NATO said. The coalition did not say whether any Afghan or coalition forces were killed.

#2: At least 14 people, including foreign forces, were killed when a Taliban car bomber struck a US-run Nato convoy travelling through the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday. The attacker detonated his Toyota Sedan car at 11:20 am (0650 GMT) in the southwest of the city, and the area was now blocked by Afghan and international forces, said police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai. At least ten foreign forces, three civilians and a policeman were among the casualties. "The attack targeted an American Nato bus," said a Western military official on condition of anonymity. "There are 10 or 11 people, mostly Americans," he said, giving the death toll. Spokesman for the interior ministry Siddiq Siddiqui said that three civilians and a policeman had also been killed but he had no information on foreign forces. "It was a huge explosion, I saw at least ten bodies of foreign forces taken out of their capsized bus and evacuated by two helicopters," one witness told AFP at the scene.

#3: At around the same time in the eastern city of Asadabad in Kunar province, a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside a local branch of Afghanistan's spy agency, a spokesman for the Kunar provincial governor said. The woman struck outside the local operations centre for the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi. "As a result of the explosion two guards of the operative directorate were wounded," he said.

#4: NATO says a man wearing an Afghan military uniform has turned his weapon on coalition and Afghan troops in the country's south, killing two members of the U.S.-led coalition. The coalition says the shooter also was killed in the incident Saturday in southern Afghanistan. The nationalities of those killed were not disclosed and the coalition did not provide any other details about the shooting.

#5: update - An attack Thursday by Taliban forces in Afghanistan left one man dead and seven others injured, including five Fort Carson soldiers, an Army spokesman confirmed. The injured soldiers are members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Maj. Kevin Toner, a spokesman for the unit, did not identify the soldiers but said they were hurt Thursday afternoon in the U.S. compound at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar province. Toner said the soldiers, along with an Afghan soldier and an American civilian contractor, are expected to recover from their injuries. An Afghan interpreter died in the attack, Toner said.


DoD: Sgt. John A. Lyons

DoD: Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Dunning

War News for Friday, October 28, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class David G. Robinson died from unreported causes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, October 25th. He was supporting Operation New Dawn (MNF)

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, October 28th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi police and health officials say the death toll of a twin bombing in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad has risen to 32. The two blasts, which took place Thursday evening at a music store, wounded 71 other people, the officials said. A second bomb exploded minutes after the first, targeting rescue workers and onlookers. Two police officials said the first explosion, at a music store shortly after 7 p.m., killed two people. The second bomb struck four minutes later, as rescue workers and others rushed to the scene, the officials said.

#2: A sniper shot at a traffic police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding another in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district, police and health sources said.

#3: A roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding four civilians in southwestern Baghdad, police and health sources said.

#4: A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding four civilians in Baghdad's southeastern Zaafaraniya district, police and health sources said.

#5: A roadside bomb blew up near a traffic police patrol, wounding two policemen and one civilian in Baghdad's northeastern Sadr City district, police and health sources said.

#6: A general was hit today with grave wounds following an attack by unknown gunmen mid of Baghdad , security sources said. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the unknown gunmen used weapons equipped with silencers, which led to his grave wounds.


Iskandariya:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near a motorcycle cart, killing the driver and a child and wounding two others in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Jebla:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a house and wounded the brother of the home's owner in the town of Jbela, 65 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Basra:
#1: Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. forces raided a house and arrested six members of the Sadr movement in northern Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, security sources and local officials said.

Security forces arrested two journalists, Iraqi and US, for having photography without official permission, media source said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the US journalist Kameran Gharib, who is also a Kurdish, and an Iraqi called Ammar Saleh were arrested for photographing a popular souk (market), pointing out that they were mistreated and their camera was confiscated.


Samarra:
#1: Gunmen threw a hand grenade at a military vehicle, killing one soldier on Wednesday in the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, a hospital source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car went off and wounded the driver on Wednesday in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km(155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Police said they found the body of a man who had been shot in the head and chest two days after his abduction in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

#2: Three militants were killed in a clashes with Iraqi security forces late on Wednesday in Mosul, police said.

Iraqi police killed three gunmen in west Mosul , security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-iraq that clashes took place this morning that led to killing three gunmen. The gunmen shot fire against a police check point, which obliged the latter to retaliate and killing three of them.

#3: Security sources announced here today that a curfew was imposed early this morning upon information of suicidal attacks, at a time some are planning for demonstrations denouncing random arrest in the province. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the curfew time is not limited.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan interpreter was killed and eight other people wounded in a Taliban attack on a US-run base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, NATO said Friday. Four attackers were killed in the assault on the civilian-military base housing the local provincial reconstruction team in what was the Taliban capital before the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the militia from power. Armed with guns, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, the attackers opened fire from an empty building near the compound. "One American civilian contractor and two Afghan security guards were injured, one Afghan interpreter was killed, and five ISAF service members were slightly wounded as a result of the attack," the military said.

An attack on two southern Afghan bases used by foreign troops ended on Friday after four insurgents were killed, local police and a spokesman for NATO-led coalition forces said. The attack on a military and civilian provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar province began on Thursday and lasted more than 15 hours.

It took Afghan police and U.S. troops four hours to thwart the assault on Camp Nathan Smith, according to Agence France-Presse. Operating from a compound across the street from the Provincial Reconstruction team headquarters, the insurgents fired multiple rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at the base, NATO said in a news release from Kandahar City. At the same time, two suicide bombers driving vehicles were foiled when they tried to breach the base. They did not cause any damage or injuries to U.S. or Afghan forces before blowing themselves up.

Insurgents attacked another former Canadian base in Panjwaii District on Thursday that had been run by American troops since July of this year. No injuries to U.S. or Afghan forces were reported.

#2: Four Nato armour vehicles and two trawlers reduced to ashes when two blasts occurred in two trawlers here at Torkham parking lot on Thursday. However no causality was reported, official sources informed. They said two consecutive blasts occurred at 8:10 pm in two Afghanistan-bound trawlers bearing registration numbers B-2410 and Z-6056. They said the trawlers were loaded with allied forces armour vehicles, which caught fire after the blasts. The Fire spread within no time and engulfed the loaded four armour vehicles turning them to ashes, sources said. They said as soon as fire fighters reached, the trawlers and the armour vehicles were completely burnt.

#3: Several insurgents were killed during a security operation conducted throughout the week by the Afghan National Police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Uruzgan province, south-west of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement.

#4: A suicide bomber travelling on foot blew himself up next to a police vehicle on the outskirts of the town of Risalpur in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, killing two policemen and wounding one, police officials said.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class David G. Robinson

War News for Thursday, October 27, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. Edward S. Grace died from a non-combat related illness in in in Silver Spring, Md. on Sunday, October 23rd. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 26th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A sticky bomb exploded in a car on a crowded street in Baya' area, which led to a number of casualties, security sources said today.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A remote controlled explosion killed at least two security personnel and injured three others in South Waziristan on Thursday, a private TV reported. According to the report, the blast took place at about 10:20 a. m. local time when a remote controlled blast went off near a convoy of security forces in Shakai area of South Waziristan, a border region near Afghanistan.

#2: Pakistani officials on Wednesday accused NATO helicopters of violating Pakistan’s air space over the Taliban and Haqqani stronghold of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border. “Two helicopters intruded several kilometres inside Pakistan territory in Datta Khel town around 2:00 am,” a military official told foreign news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity. The helicopters flew in from the eastern Afghan province Paktia and circled the bordering village of Zoi Nara for more than five minutes, the official in the provincial capital Peshawar said. Another military official said the choppers left after “warning shots” were fired by Pakistan troops.

#3: A blast, apparently caused by a small-intensity bomb, wounded four people in a market in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.

#4: Four armed insurgents were killed, one wounded and 33 arrested by Afghan police in operations between the police, the Afghan army and coalition forces in the Kabul, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Balkh, Kandahar, Nimroz, Maidan Wardak and Khost provinces over the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#5: At least six suspected militants were killed and two others injured on Thursday as U.S. pilotless planes fired missiles in Pakistan's northwestern region of South Waziristan, local Urdu TV Express reported. According to the report, two U.S. drones fired six missiles at a vehicle in Tura Gula village of Azam Warsak area in South Waziristan, one of Pakistan's northwestern restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.


DoD: Sgt. Edward S. Grace

War News for Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The DoD is reporting the death of a soldier which has previously been unreported by the military. The soldiers died from an undisclosed cause in Tallil (airbase), Iraq on Friday, October 21st.

The DoD is reporting another new death previously unreported by the military. Capt. Shawn P. T. Charles died from a non-combat related illness in in San Antonio, Texas on Sunday, October 23rd. He was supporting Operation New Dawn (MNF)


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast in central Baghdad's Saadoun Street on Wednesday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge blew up on the roadside, close to a restaurant in central Baghdad's Saadoun Street, wounding 3 civilians," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding four people, a police source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a car carrying three leaders of the government-backed Sahwa militia went off, killing one and wounding the other two on the northern outskirts of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting an Oil Police patrol blew up and wounded four policemen in central Baquba, police said.

#3: At the same time, a parked motorcycle-cart bomb went off in central Baquba but no casualties were reported, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb went off near a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, wounding seven, near Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a police spokesman said. Another police source said four were wounded.


Iskandariya:
#1: In Iskandiriyah, 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, "unknown armed men attacked the house of Safaa al-Mussawi, a Friday prayer leader, with bombs" during the night, a police first lieutenant said. The cleric "and his son were seriously injured and his wife and daughter were killed," the officer said. A source in the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, confirmed the attack on Mussawi's home.

Unknown assailants raided the home of a representative of Iraq's most revered Shiite Cleric and top religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Hosseini al-Sistani, in the country's Southwestern province of Babil Tuesday night and killed his wife and son.

#2: The mayor of Iskandiriyah was killed on Tuesday night, a police source said. "Armed men killed the mayor of the Iskandiriyah sub-district yesterday night. His name was Ali al-Massudi, from the Sadr movement," the source said, referring to the movement of anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

#3: Also in Iskandariyah one Iraqi soldier was killed and another wounded in an attack by gunmen on a patrol in the area, an army captain said.

#4: Two militants were killed when a bomb they were carrying exploded in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, an officer at Babil police headquarters said.


Kut:
#1: The wife of a policeman in the city of Kut, the center of Wassit Province, has been attacked by unknown gunmen who killed her by knife early on Wednesday, a police source reported. "A group of unknown armed men broke through the house of a Wassit policeman in central Kut at dawn Wednesday, killing his 28-year-old wife by knife and escaping to an unknown destination," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Jurf al Sakhar:
#1: Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing two soldiers and wounded one, in Jurf al-Sakhar late on Tuesday, a security source in Babil province said.

#2: A roadside bomb killed a member of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia and wounded two others when it blew up near their vehicle in Jurf al-Sakhar, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, a security source in Babil province said.


Mussayab:
#1: Gunmen opened fire and killed a civilian in front of his house in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad late on Tuesday, a security source in Babil province said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol, seriously wounding two soldiers, in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said.


Kurdistan:
#1: Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq overnight and some 500 soldiers have crossed the border with armoured vehicles, military and security sources told Reuters on Tuesday, in an escalation of hostilities. The Turkish forces were advancing towards a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camp at Haftanin, around 20 km from the Habur border post and north of the town of Dahuk. The sources described it as the busiest military activity along the border since the Turkish army launched cross-border activities last week in response to a PKK attack on Turkish forces which killed 24 soldiers in Hakkari, bordering Iraq.


Mosul:
#1: "A car bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in Al-Zuhour neighborhood, killing three soldiers and wounding three civilians" in Mosul in Iraq's north, a first lieutenant in the Mosul police said.

#2: "Another car bomb exploded ... in the same neighborhood, killing two civilians and wounding 16," he said, adding that the bombs went off about 9:00 am (0600 GMT). A doctor at Mosul General Hospital confirmed the deaths, saying: "We received five bodies, including three soldiers."

#3: A roadside bomb exploded and wounded two street cleaners in eastern Mosul, a police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb hidden inside a fuel truck in a central Afghan province exploded as scores of people gathered around the vehicle to collect fuel that was leaking, killing at least five in a blast that shattered a period of relative quiet in the war-ravaged nation, officials said Wednesday. The explosion, around 8 p.m. Tuesday, occurred in Parwan province, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the capital, Kabul. Kabir Amiri, who oversees all of Kabul's hospitals, says 47 people were wounded.

At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 35 wounded on Tuesday night in the Bagram district of northern Parwan province after a small bomb punctured a hole in the side of a fuel tanker that was later engulfed by a large blaze, said Roshna Khalid, a spokeswoman for the provincial governor.

#2: Afghan security forces and foreign troops killed 15 insurgents, wounded one and detained 20 in eight joint operations in seven provinces in the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#3: Gunmen shot and killed two former members of a local anti-Taliban peace committee in a residential area of Tank town, security officials said.

#4: Also, three security personnel were wounded when a remote-controlled roadside bomb detonated next to an army vehicle on the outskirts of the town of Tank in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, local military officials said.

#5: A remote-controlled roadside bomb detonated in the Samarbagh area of the Lower Dir border district in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, killing four people, police officials said.

#6: At least two people have been killed in an attack by unknown armed men on a NATO oil tanker in troubled northwestern Pakistan, Press TV reports. The militants opened fire on the tanker, carrying fuel supplies for US-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan, in the Jamroud bordering area of Pakistan's Khyber tribal region late Tuesday, killing at least two people, including the driver of the container. The fuel truck caught fire and was completely destroyed.

#7: Thirteen Taliban fighters have been reportedly killed in bombardment of the foreign forces in Khas Kunar district in Kunar province last night. The police chief of Khas Kunar district, Habibullah Jangi told the Afghan Islamic Press aircraft of the foreign forces conducted heavy bombardment on Taliban fighters in Maya area near the Durand Line last night, killing 13 Taliban fighters. “The death toll may be higher as the bombardment was very heavy. But there are 13 bodies in the area,” he maintained. The International Security Assistance Force media centre in eastern Afghanistan confirmed the operation. It, however, expressed unawareness about the number of the killed Taliban fighters. Meanwhile, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told media only their 10 fighters had been killed in the area.

DoD: Airmen 1st Class Jerome D. Miller Jr

DoD: Pfc. Steven F. Shapiro

DoD: Lance Cpl. Jason N. Barfield

DoD: Capt. Shawn P. T. Charles

War News for Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The DoD is reporting the death of a Airmen which has previously been unreported by the military. The soldiers died from non-combat related incident in Parwan province, Afghanistan on Thursday, October 13th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a traffic police patrol went off in the Ur district of northeastern Baghdad, killing a traffic policeman and wounding three other people including a policeman, police and hospital sources said.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting a traffic police patrol blew up and wounded four people, including a traffic policeman, in the Zaafaraniya district of southeastern Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to a traffic police vehicle went off and wounded five people, including two policemen, in the Baladiyat district of eastern Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.


Iskandariya:
#1: A bomb hidden inside a water container and planted inside the home of a former member of Mehdi Army militia exploded, killing his wife and son, late on Monday on the northern outskirts of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

A group of unknown gunmen have attacked two houses in Iskandariya township of west Iraq's Babel Province, killing the wife and son of one of the owners of one of the two houses, a Babel police source reported on Tuesday. "The first house belongs to a citizen, Ali al-Gureity, in the Martrys district of Iskanadariya township, 50 km to the north of Hilla, the center of Babel Province. The owner's wife and son were killed, and damage inflicted upon nearby houses," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the second attack took place in Muthanna district of the same township, causing material damage to the attacked house, but no human casualties.


Kurdistan:
#1: Turkish tanks and armored vehicles crossed into northern Iraq headed in the direction of a Kurdish militant camp, Turkish security sources announced last night. The incursion came as cross-border operations continued in the wake of last week’s attack by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters that killed 24 Turkish soldiers. The armored column, with hundreds of troops, was moving towards a militant camp at Haftanin, around 20 km from the Habur border post and near the Iraqi city of Zakho, the sources said. Several hundred PKK fighters were believed to be based at Haftanin, the sources said. Warplanes took off earlier from bases in Diyarbakir and Malatya to launch airstrikes on the camp as the latest phase of operations began on Monday afternoon.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen stormed a real estate office and killed the owner late on Monday in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A US-led helicopter operated by NATO has been damaged following a militant attack in central Afghanistan, Press TV reports. According to a statement realeased by NATO headquarter in Afghanistan, the helicopter sustained damages after it was hit twice by Taliban militants in Alasay district in the central province of Kapisa Monday afternoon. Following the attack, the chopper was forced to land in a nearby base but none of its crew suffered injuries, the report said.

#2: On Monday, there were also reports of another crash of a US-led NATO helicopter in the northeastern province of Kunar.

#3: At least four people were killed Tuesday in a roadside bombing in a district of north-western Pakistan along the Afghan border, a government official said. The bomb was planted in the Ghura Banda area near Samar Bagh in Lower Dir district, said Fazal Karim, an official in the district police office. He said the identities of the victims were not immediately known, given the remoteness of the bomb site.

#4: Eleven insurgents were killed by Afghan National Police and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces during three joint operations on Sunday and Monday in the surrounding areas of Kabul, Baghlan and Ghazni provinces, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement. Eleven insurgents were detained. It gave no further details.


DoD: Sgt. Paul A. Rivera

DoD: Lance Cpl. Jordan S. Bastean

War News for Monday, October 24, 2011

The DoD is reporting the deaths of three soldiers which has previously been unreported by the military. The soldiers died from an IED attack in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 22nd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 22nd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 23rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 23rd. News reports that a Polish soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in Ghazni province and a second soldier was wounded in the attack.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, October 24th.


Review slams US training of Iraqi police -- U.S. State Department program to train Iraqi police lacks focus, could become a "bottomless pit" of American money and may not even be wanted by the Iraqi department it's supposed to help, reports released Monday by a U.S. government watchdog show.

Threat to Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline

Panetta’s Pentagon, Without the Blank Check


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near a traffic police vehicle, wounding two policemen in Baghdad's central Nahdha area, an Interior Ministry source said.

At least 4 persons, including 2 policemen, have been injured in an explosive charge blast in central Baghdad on Sunday, a Baghdad security source reported. "An explosive charge blew up on Sunday morning in central Baghdad's al-Nahda district, wounding 2 policemen and 2 civilians, and causing damage to a number of cars close to the venue of the blast," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Gunmen opened fire and killed an Oil Ministry employee in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

An Iraqi Oil Ministry media official has been injured and his driver was killed in an explosive charge blast under their car south of Baghdad on Sunday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge blew off on Sunday against a car, carrying an Oil Ministry media official in southwest Baghdad's Saidiya district, injuring the official and killing his driver, along with causing severe damage to the car," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: "An explosive charge blew up against a traffic police patrol in east Baghdad's al-Sadr city, wounding 3 patrol men and 2 civilians," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: He said a clash took place between traffic policemen and unknown armed men close to Sarrafiya bridge in central Baghdad, killing 2 civilians and 2 traffic policemen, along with injuring 6 others, including 4 traffic policemen and 2 civilians.

#5: "Another explosion took place against a traffic policemen in al-Nahda area in central Baghdad, injuring 4 civilians and 2 traffic policemen, who were drive to a nearby hospital for treatment," he added.

#6: In another incident, an explosive charge blew up targeting a traffic policemen in west Baghdad's Iskan district, killing a civilian and wounding 3 others, whilst a suicide bomber, driving a booby-trapped car, attacked a group of citizens at the same place of the said blast, but it blew off before his arrival to the area, raising the number of injured people to seven, he concluded.

#7: A number of persons have been killed or injured in a Katyusha rocket attack targeting the headquarters of the Baghdad Police Academy on Monday, a security source reported. "A number of Katyusha rockets fell on Monday afternoon on the headquarters of the Police Academy, close to the Interior Ministry building east of Baghdad, killing and wounding several people," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mussayab:
#1: A roadside bomb went off late on Saturday and wounded three people in the town of Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Jurf al Sakhar:
#1: Gunmen in a car opened fire in a market and killed one man and wounded one woman late on Saturday in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Tikrit:
#1: Gunmen in a car opened fire and killed a teacher and his daughter late on Saturday in a village near Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen shot dead an off-duty Nineveh province police official, Brigadier General Mahmoud Abdullah, in his car in front of his house in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a Nineveh police source said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire on two women in western Mosul, killing one and wounding the other, a Nineveh police source said.

#3: A civilian was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in northern Mosul, a Nineveh police source said.

#4: Gunmen threw a hand grenade at a police patrol and wounded three policemen in western Mosul, police said.

#5: A roadside bomb exploded and wounded one man in northern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An assassination attempt on Afghanistan's interior minister failed when a suicide bomber was shot dead by body guards Sunday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Interior Minister Bismullah Khan was not wounded during when his convoy was targeted, said spokesman Sediq Seddiqi. The minister was targeted in Parwan province, located north of Kabul, he said.

#2: According to local authorities in western Afghanistan, at least two Afghan police officers were killed following a roadside bomb explosion in western Herat province. The officials further added, the incident took place on Sunday evening in Shindand district. Provincial governor spokesman for Herat province Moeuddin Noori confirming the incident said, at least two police officers were killed following a roadside bomb explosion while they were patrolling in the area.

#3: In a separate incident at least three Afghan police forces were injured following a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Nangarhar province. According to local officials, the incident took place around 9 am early Monday morning near a police check post in this province.

#4: One insurgent was killed by Afghan National Police and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces during a joint operation on Monday in search of a Taliban leader in Helmand province, south-west of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement. Two insurgents were detained.

#5: Several insurgents were killed during a joint airstrike by the Afghan National Police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Paktiya province, south of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement.


News: Private Mariusz Deptula

DoD: 1st. Lt. Ashley I. White

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer B. Domeij

DoD: Pfc.Christopher A. Horns

News of the Day for Sunday, October23, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Kazan Valley, Turkey, near the Iraq border

Turkish television says Turkish troops have killed 49 PKK fighters as Turkey continues its offensive in response to a PKK attack last week. There has been no confirmation of the deaths by the PKK.

Tikrit

A teacher and his daughter are slain by unknown gunmen near their home.

Baghdad

Two police and two civilians are injured by an explosion in al-Nahda district, which also damages several cars.

An Oil Industry "media official" is injured and his driver killed by a roadside bomb in Saidiya, southwest Baghdad.

Various places in Kirkuk and Diala Provinces

Security forces arrest 47 people associated with the former Baathist regime, including army officers and officials. According to the government, these include members of the Naqshabandiya group, which is a religiously inspired Baathist revanchist organization. Note: While I have no way of knowing whether any or all of these individuals have been involved in violence, given that the security forces are controlled by the Shiite-dominated government, this action may contribute to political tensions. -- C

Other News of the Day

AFP discusses the issue of Iranian influence in Iraq as the U.S. prepares to withdraw the last of its military forces. This is pretty much conventional wisdom, but includes a succinct statement by Reidar Visser (who blogs at Iraq and Gulf Analysis): “Above all, Iran has succeeded in defining the parameters for Iraqi politics through a prime minister that relies on a sectarian Shiite alliance ... As long as Iraqi politics remains defined in sectarian terms, Iran will have the upper hand.”

Although we have sometimes heard equivocal or contrary reporting on this question, Raheem Salman and Patrick J. McDonnell of the LA times say that Iraqis overwhelmingly want the U.S. to go. They note that al-Iraqiya joins the Shiite bloc in wishing the U.S. a speedy departure. Excerpt:

More than 1 million Americans have served in Iraq, and almost 4,500 lost their lives there. Now the Iraqis have given the U.S. military an unequivocal message: Go home.

Eight years after U.S. troops overthrew Saddam Hussein, there is little enthusiasm among people on the street for a sustained U.S. presence. And although some Iraqis undoubtedly fear that the U.S. withdrawal could lead to greater instability, others — notably the lawmakers elected after the U.S.-enabled democratic transition — appear to think that a quick U.S. departure is about the best thing that could happen. . . . [M]any associate the U.S. presence with instability, violence and suspect motives in a conflict that is believed to have cost at least 100,000 Iraqi lives. These critics view U.S. troops as a lightning rod for militia attacks.

In a news conference, PM al-Maliki says that the U.S. withdrawal will not compromise security in Iraq:

The security situation has nothing to do with the withdrawal of US forces,” Maliki told reporters. “The withdrawal will remove all justification on which Al-Qaeda and armed groups base their attacks.” . . . Maliki added that US negotiators stopped giving “suggestions” about numbers of trainers and other details after Iraqi political leaders announced this month that while they backed a training mission, they would not grant US forces legal immunity. “The training issue will be added to contracts of purchasing wea­pons,” he said. “The issue will be easy.”

Afghanistan Update

Not that this is something I care to contemplate in the first place, but Hamid Karzai says Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in the event of war between the U.S. and Pakistan. Hmm, now why would he even bring up such a question? -- C "If there is war between Pakistan and America, we will stand by Pakistan," Karzai said in a television interview. He put his hand on his heart and described Pakistan as a "brother" country.

Dept. of "So what else is new?" At least two Afghan cabinet ministers have embezzled millions of dollars of public money, the country's anti-graft chief said at the weekend, adding to Western pressure on President Hamid Karzai to clean up his government.

Missile hits a mosque in Wardak Province, injures 11 people.

NATO soldier KIA in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, no further information as of now.

Kabul street children struggle to survive, AFP reports.

The United Nations estimates there are 50,000 street children in the Afghan capital alone. Among them are those who cannot afford an education or those who are the only breadwinners for fatherless or unemployed families. Charity workers put the number at 60,000, saying the return of refugees’ insecurity and drought have pushed more children onto the streets in the 10 years since US-led troops drove the Taliban from power.

"The number of street children is increasing," said Mohammad Yousif, director of the charity Aschiana that works with street children in five of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

War News for Saturday, October 22, 2011

Coalition forces complete operation in Eastern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Four Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast in west Baghdad on Saturday, a police source reported. "An explosive charge blew off on Saturday morning in west Baghdad's Hay al-Jami'a district, wounding 4 civilians and causing damage to their car and other cars in the area," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that unknown gunmen killed a 32-year woman inside her house, with ordinary pistols.

#2: On the other hand, the source added that two consecutive bombs exploded on a cops patrol mid of Mosul, which resulted in wounding them.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: "Afghan National Police, Afghan army and coalition forces have launched five joint operations in Kabul, Ghazni and Kandahar provinces, killing 24 armed insurgents and detaining 10 suspects," the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement.

War News for Friday, October 21, 2011

U.S. shutters northern headquarters in Iraq


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three roadside bombs killed three civilians and wounded 12 others, including three policemen, when they exploded in quick succession near a restaurant in Baghdad's eastern Habibiya district, police and hospital sources said.


Kurdistan:
#1: Hundreds of Turkish commandos backed by helicopter gunships attacked Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on Thursday, officials said, in an offensive to avenge the deaths of 24 soldiers a day earlier. Turkish security officials estimated their forces, numbering about 1,000 inside Iraq, had killed 21 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It was unclear how deep into Iraq this counter-offensive could go. The military said it had put troops from 22 battalions into the field for ground attacks in five different areas on either side of the border, and it had also launched air strikes.

#2: Turkish jets kept up bombing raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq overnight, as the rebels confirmed that some Turkish troops crossed into Iraq, officials and media reports said Friday. Turkish war planes continued to take off from Diyarbakir, the regional capital of the mainly Kurdish southeast. The Turkish army said Friday that the air and ground strikes against the rebels are "mainly" in Turkey. "While the majority of the land and air operations are in (Turkey), mainly in the Cukurca region, ground and air strikes are ongoing in a few points in northern Iraq across the border," the army said in a statement posted on its website.


Kirkuk:
#1: A landmine seriously wounded four children when it went off in north-west Kirkuk, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 13 Afghan civilians have been injured after a US-led airstrike targeting suspected Taliban militants hit a house in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Kunar. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) issued a statement on Friday and confirmed the incident, Reuters reported. The assault came after US-led foreign forces returned fire following an attack by militants. "Air assets arrived on the scene and during the incident one munition from a coalition aircraft fell short of the insurgent position, impacting a civilian house," ISAF statement said. On Wednesday, one Afghan civilian was killed and six others were kidnapped after US military forces attacked a residential area in eastern province of Nangarhar.

#2: NATO says "numerous" insurgents have been killed in an airstrike in a southern Afghan province. NATO says coalition and Afghan forces carried out the strike, targeting a group of Taliban fighters. It didn't give a precise number for killed insurgents and it was unclear when the strike took place.

#3: Militants armed with rockets and hand grenades attacked the house of a prominent anti-Taliban elder in Pakistan’s tribal belt on Friday, killing three people, officials said. The gunmen struck in the Minzari Chinaa area, 90 kilometres (55 miles) northwest of Ghalanai, the main town in the district of Mohmand where the military has conducted a series of operations against the Taliban. “A group of 45 militants attacked the house of Noor Mohammad, who heads the local peace committee, with hand grenades and rockets, killing his two sons and a daughter-in-law,” local official Javed Khan said.

#4: In the neighbouring tribal district of Bajaur, at least three gunmen shot dead a member of a local peace committee in Chinar, 45 kilometres northeast of Bajaur’s main town of Khar late Thursday, a local official said.

#5: A paramilitary vehicle hit a landmine in the northwestern region of Mohmand, wounding six soldiers, a government official in the region said. Hours later, security forces killed six Taliban and wounded three in a fight after militants attacked a paramilitary patrol in the same region, a government official said.

#6: Security forces shot dead a militant after he threw a hand grenade near a police checkpoint in the outskirts of Peshawar, wounding a passer-by and policeman, police said.

#7: Two suspected militants and one policeman were killed in a shootout in the northwestern town of Bannu, police said.

#8: A roadside bomb blast killed two soldiers and wounded three in the northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border, a military spokesman said.

#9: Several insurgents were killed in a joint air strike by Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces in Zabul province, south-west of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement. No civilians were harmed, and two suspect insurgents were detained, it said.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Jorge M. Oliveira

DoD: Chief Petty Officer Raymond J. Border

War News for Thursday, October 20, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 18th.


IED attacks increase outside of Afghanistan, Iraq -- In September, the bombs killed 18 U.S. troops and wounded 420 others, according to the Pentagon data.

Terrorists threaten Pak oil firm to stop fuel supplies to army, Afghan-bound NATO forces

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of October 18, 2011


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi Army officer has been killed by unknown gunmen in north Baghdad's Aadamiya district on Thursday, a security source reported. "Iraqi Army Col. Hashem Abdul-Ghafour has been killed close to his house in Aadamiya district, north of Baghdad, by a group of gunmen using silence-fixed guns," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: A US Army patrol has come under an explosive charge blast west of Kut, the center of southern Iraq Province of Wassit on Wednesday night, but losses were not known, a Wassit Police source reported on Thursday. "An explosive charge blew off against a US Army patrol on its way to Delta base, used by the American forces as their headquarters, 7 km to the west of Kut on Wednesday evening," the police source told Aswat lraq news agency.


Northern Iraq:
#1: Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships have attacked Kurdish rebels on the second day of a retaliatory air and ground offensive across the Iraqi border. About a dozen warplanes flew several bombing sorties out of two military bases in the country's southeast until sunrise, the state-run TRT television said.

Many areas in Arbil and Duhuk provinces are under Turkish and Iranian fire under the pretext of chasing PKK and PJAK parties, which led to a number of casualties, damages and immigration of inhabitants.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: One civilian was killed and four wounded in bomb blast mid of Ramadi, police sources in Anbar province said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb exploded inside a civilian car near Anbar Health Department, which led to killing its owner. After five minutes another bomb exploded by the side of the road near the first explosion, which led to wounding four civilians.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two soldiers and five militants were killed on Thursday in gunbattles in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal district along the Afghan border, officials said. The fighting erupted when Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) launched a search operation in the Malik din Khel area of Khyber. Two FC personnel were killed and three were wounded.

At least four Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by suspected militants in the country's restive Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, state television reported. PTV reported that 8 more soldiers were injured in an attack at a security checkpost in Bara area of Khyber agency near the Afghan border. The security forces returned fire at the direction of the attack and injured two militants, the report said. The forces also launched a search operation after the attack and shelled hideouts of the militants.

#2: NATO and Afghan forces have killed at least 115 insurgents over the past week as part of an ongoing operation in a northeastern Afghanistan province, the coalition said Thursday, as it looks to curb insurgent activity along the border with neighboring Pakistan. The fighting in Kunar province, known for its rugged terrain that leaves coalition supply lines from Pakistan vulnerable to insurgent attacks. NATO said the operation has been going on since around Oct. 15 and has included the use of fighter jets and long-range bombers. The alliance said that one NATO service member has been killed since the fighting began. It was not immediately clear if any Afghan troops had been killed. "This is a series of multiple, smaller operations that have a combined, larger impact," said Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner, a NATO spokesman

War News for Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Staff Sgt. James R. Leep Jr. died from unreported causes somewhere in Babil province Iraq on Wednesday, October 17th.


Turkey launches incursion into Iraq, kills 15 terrorists near border --(PKK) killed 26 security members

First 200 French soldiers to leave Afghanistan

U.S. Deploys Kamikaze Drones to Attack Afghan Taliban Targets


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A lieutenant colonel from the Interior Ministry's counter-terrorism unit escaped unharmed when gunmen using silenced weapons opened fire on his car in Baghdad's southern Doura district, an Interior Ministry source said. The source said the lieutenant colonel's driver was wounded in the incident.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car seriously wounded an Oil Ministry employee and another passenger when it went off in Baghdad's west-central Yarmouk district, an Interior Ministry source said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a judge and his driver as the judge was on his way to work in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.


Qandil region:
#1: Turkish planes on Wednesday bombed Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq in retaliation for attacks that killed at least 26 Turkish soldiers, security sources said. The air raids targeted Qandil region, the main rear base of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mountains of Iraq, the sources said. About 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in northern Iraq where they infiltrate Turkish soil to launch attacks, according to Ankara. A few hundred Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq to hunt down PKK rebels who killed the soldiers, Kurdish news agency Firatnews reported.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The spokesman for the governor of Herat province says five Afghan army troops were killed by a roadside mine. Mohyaddin Noori said the four soldiers and one officer were on their way back to their base in the western Afghanistan province's Pashtun Zarghun district at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the mine blew up as their army pickup truck was passing by.

#2: In an incident in neighbouring Badghis province, a suicide bombing killed three members of the same family. 'A suicide bomber who came on foot blew himself up next to a convoy of the Afghan army near a health clinic in Bala Murghab district of Badghis, killing three civilians and injuring two Afghan National Army soldiers,' said Dilbar Jaan Arman, the governor of Badghis province. 'All three were from the same family: a father who was the driver of the vehicle along with his two sons. All of them were civilians,' Arman added.

#3: Unidentified armed men on Tuesday, torched two NATO tankers in Dasht area of Mastung district, a local Levies official reported. The tankers were heading towards Afghanistan from Karachi carrying fuel for NATO forces, when the attackers opened fire and set them ablaze on RCD Highway. ‘The tankers were completely gutted’, an official said, adding, that a driver sustained bullet injuries in the attack and was shifted to Quetta for treatment.

#4: Police on Tuesday found the corpses of two women killed by unknown gunmen in the Gozara district of Herat, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. Motives for the killings were unknown.

#5: Eight Afghan security guards were killed when insurgents attacked their compound in the Gereshk district of southern Helmand overnight, the provincial governor's spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said.

#6: Three civilians were killed when several homemade bombs exploded under a bridge in western Herat city while police were attempting to defuse them, the Interior Ministry said. Five others, including a policeman, were wounded.

#7: A roadside bomb killed three civilians and wounded two in Andar district of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, the U.S. military said.

#8: A detainee being held by troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was found dead in his holding cell in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. The man was captured during a military operation on Saturday and was found dead the following day in his cell in Kandahar province, it said. It did not give further details and said an investigation was under way.

#9: Tribesmen clashed with Taliban militants in northwestern Kurram on the Afghan border. Two militants died and their hideouts set ablaze, a government official in the region said. There was no independent confirmation of the event.

#10: A suicide car bomber attacked a checkpost in the northwestern Lakki Marwat after security forces opened fire on him, wounding three passers-by, police said. Lakki Marwat borders North Waziristan, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border.

#11: Six missiles fired by two U.S. drone aircraft hit a house and vehicle in North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, killing six militants, Pakistani intelligence officials in the region said.

#12: Militants shot dead a Pakistani tribesman and dumped his body on the side of a road in North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah with a note accusing him of spying for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, government officials said.

#13: Militants on motorcycles attacked and torched three tankers transporting fuel for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in the southwestern Baluchistan province, police said.

#14: Five insurgents were killed on Tuesday when troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) raided their position in Wardak province 35 km west of capital city of Kabul, an official said on Wednesday. "Five armed militants were busy in planting anti-vehicle mines in Luwri area of Sayyedabad district of Wardak province late on Tuesday but troops with ISAF targeted their position killing all on the spot," a spokesman for provincial government, Shahidullah Shahid told Xinhua.


DoD: Spc. Michael D. Elm

DoD: Staff Sgt. James R. Leep Jr.

War News for Tuesday, October 18, 2011

US Dept of Defense - U.S. Forces in Iraq Prepare for Transition


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
1: A parked car bomb went off in Karrada, a central district of Baghdad, killing eight people including three policemen and wounded eighteen others late on Monday, police and hospital sources said.

#2: A roadside bomb blew up killing a civilian and wounding five others late on Monday in Palestine Street, north-eastern Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen stormed a barber shop, killed three customers and wounded the barber late on Monday in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their car in the village of Bani Zaid, west 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.

#3: In a separate incident, a policeman was wounded when a sticky bomb attached to his car detonated in the town of Baladruz, some 30 km east of Baquba, the source said.


Tikrit
#1: Gunmen stormed a tribal sheikh's house and killed one of his body guards late on Monday in Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A soldier was injured in a bomb explosion in Kirkuk on Sunday targeting his patrol in Al Nida’a Street central Al Hawaija district south-western Kirkuk.

#2: A policeman was also injured in a bomb explosion on a checkpoint in Al Quds Street in Tesiin district southern Kirkuk.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen shot dead a tribal leader late on Monday in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.

A tribal personality was assassinated by unknown gunmen, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the unknown gunmen this afternoon killed Mohammed Khalid Dhahir al-Shirabi, north of Mosul.

#2: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead a bakery worker late on Monday in eastern Mosul, a local police source said.

#3: Gunmen shot dead a civilian late on Monday in western Mosul, a local police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Paramilitary forces have raided a militant hideout in Pakistan’s rugged tribal region near the Afghan border, sparking fighting that killed nine soldiers and 14 insurgents, officials said. Clashes are common in the area, but the death toll from the fighting Monday was unusually high on the Pakistani side. The raid took place in Akka Khel village in the Khyber tribal area, said Farooq Khan, a senior local government official. Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas confirmed the number of soldiers killed and said they were from the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which is mainly used to fight in the northwest. Another military official said helicopter gunships were called in to support the troops after the fighting escalated. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

#2: Seven troops of Afghan National Army (ANA) were killed and another missing after Taliban attack in Bakwa district of western Farah province yesterday, an ANA officer said Monday. Taliban gunmen ambushed an ANA convoy in Poza area of Bakwa district, killing seven troops, a high-ranking Afghan National Army official told AIP.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Houston M. Taylor

MoD: Rifleman Vijay Rai

War News for Monday, October 17, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a small arms fire attack/gunshot wound in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 15th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, October 14th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 15th. News reports that an Estonian soldier died in a firefight in Helmand province. Three additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.


Afghan-Pakistan cross-border fire frustrates troops

Taliban cracks Afghanistan's fortress

Gurkha who beheaded Taliban soldier in Afghanistan battle cleared to return to duty

Hundreds of US troops seal NWA border

NATO chopper violates Pak air space


Reported security incidents

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan police shot dead three suicide bombers attempting to target mayoral offices in the east of the country on Sunday, but a car bomb set up for the attack blew up, killing one worker, an official said. "At around noon, three suicide attackers with an explosives-packed vehicle tried to enter the municipality building in Gardez and target the city hall, but they were stopped and killed by the police," Rohullah Samoon, spokesman for Paktia provincial governor, told AFP. He said the attackers left their bomb-rigged vehicle, which detonated before foreign troops were able to arrive to defuse it, killing one worker.

#2: A suicide bomber targeted a provincial head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency today, wounding the spy and killing a child in the increasingly volatile north of the country. The bomber detonated next to a car carrying the National Directorate of Security (NDS) official at 8:20am (3:50 GMT) in Maymanah in Faryab province, Lal Mohammad, police spokesman for the northern region, told AFP. "The chief of NDS was going to his office when the attacker, a person wearing a suicide vest, detonated near his car. "One child is killed and six other people, including the provincial chief of NDS, are injured," said Mohammad. Mohammad had said initially that a "number of civilians" were killed. Faryab police chief Sayed Ahmad Sameh confirmed the NDS official was the target.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Robert B. Cowdrey

DoD: Spc. Jeremiah T. Sancho

EST/MoD: Corporal Agris Hutrof

News of the Day for Sunday, October 16, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Mosul

A civilian is killed by unknown gunmen in front of his house on Saturday. No other information now available.

Khaniqin

As thousands demonstrate to protest removal of the Kurdish flag from government buildings, a protestor sets himself on fire. The man is reported to have survived.

Other News of the Day

The Associated Press is reporting that the U.S. has abandoned plans to keep 5,000 troops in Iraq in 2012, and will retain only 160 embassy guards.

However, Administration spokespeople deny this report, saying that negotiations with the Iraqi government over this issue continue.

Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki implies that U.S. troops might remain as trainers, but will not receive immunity from Iraqi law. This has been the sticking point all along. The U.S. has said it will not leave troops in Iraq without immunity, and will find another way to provide training should Iraq fail to grant it. -- C

This AFP story has more details on the demonstration in Khaniqin. This territorial dispute between Arabs and Kurds threatens the integrity of Iraq and is one of the major concerns which has made the U.S. reluctant to fully withdraw. -- C

Juan Cole (who, contrary to some accusations, was absolutely opposed to the U.S. intervention in Iraq from the beginning) discusses the history of the Status of Forces Agreement and the political developments which have lead to the coming withdrawal. He concludes:

And so that is the way the war ends. No great demonstrations in the US against it in its twilight. It is ending almost by default, because the Iraqi parliament can seldom get real legislation done, the US is forced to adhere to the 2008 SOFA. In the background, the bombs are still going off and the country is riven by ethnic disputes. The US will receive no benefit from its illegal war of aggression, no permanent bases, no bulwark against Iran, no new Arab friend to Israel, no $14 a barrel petroleum– all thing things Washington had dreamed of. Dreams that turned out to be flimsy and unsubstantial and tragic.

Afghanistan Update

A British soldier is shot dead on Saturday while guarding a checkpoint in Helmand Province. ISAF announces that two soldiers were killed on Saturday, apparently including the fatality announced by Britain, but giving no further information. Apparently the British soldier was actually a Ghurka from Nepal.

The Governor of Paktia Province survives an assassination attempt as he arrives at this office, but a police officer and municipal employee are killed, and four civilians wounded. Three of the attackers are dead, and one is believed to have escaped. The AFP account is slightly different, in that it does not specify the Governor as the target of the attack. It also says the municipal employee was killed by a car bomb left behind by the attackers, and does not mention the dead police officer.

Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security is investigating itself over accusations that its agents beat a prisoner nearly to death in Khost in September. This follows a UN report that Afghan security forces routinely torture prisoners. Apologies for annoying pop-up ad for sausage, in Spanish. -- C

German President Christian Wulff makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan, apparently in preparation for a conference on Afghanistan to be held in Bonn in December. In case you're wondering why you've never heard of Wulff, the German presidency is a largely ceremonial office.