War News for Thursday, January 5, 2011

Seven years after sieges, Fallujah struggles

Four blasts kill 29, wounds dozens in Iraq's capital

Jury selection to begin for last Marine accused in Iraq killings

Pakistan border closure leaves Canadian supplies stuck in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Attackers gunned down a local government official on his way to a mosque in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Thursday, in the latest hit on a government figure. Haji Fazel Mohammad was shot on his way to evening prayers Wednesday in the volatile district of Sangin in Helmand province, the governor’s office said. The attackers escaped. Mohammad served on the local council for Sangin.

#2: Armed men seized a Red Cross worker from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday, police and the organization said. Local police officer Nazir Ahmed Kurd said his initial information was that the man was a British health worker. But an intelligence official in the city said the man was Yemeni. The official didn't give his name because he is not allowed to be identified in the media.

#3: Pakistani militants today killed 15 security force members they kidnapped a month ago on the Afghan border. The men's naked, bullet-ridden bodies were dumped in Shiwa, in the north Waziristan region, in a fresh blow to attempts by the government to stage peace talks with insurgent factions. Constabulary commander Ali Sher confirmed the men had been killed and said his men had been sent to the area to recover the bodies. In a statement, the Pakistani Taliban said the murders were in retaliation for an army operation on Sunday in the region that killed several militants, including a prominent commander.

#4: THREE Australian soldiers have been wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan. The incident occurred during an operational mission on January 2, about 60km northwest of the Multi-National Base at Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan Province, the Australian Defence Force revealed in a statement on Thursday.

#5: Two insurgents were killed during an operation by Afghan troops and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the central province of Wardak on Tuesday, ISAF said. The operaton targeted a Taliban leader, the coalition said.

#6: Several insurgents were killed during an operation by Afghan troops and ISAF in central Ghazni province on Tuesday targeting a Taliban weapons facilitator, ISAF said.


MoD: Rifleman Sachin Limbu