War News for Friday, March 30, 2012

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Capt. Francis D. Imlay died in an accident involving a F-15 aircraft near a base in an unreported area somewhere in southwest Asia on Wednesday, March 28th.

The French MoD is reporting the death of an additional French ISAF soldier following an attack from an ANA soldier at a base in Kapisa province, Afghanistan on January 20th. where four additional soldiers died and fifteen were wounded. He died on Tuesday, March 27th in a hospital near Paris.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an unreported location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, March 29th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an unreported location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, March 30th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an unreported location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, March 29th.


Reported security incidents
#1: A suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at a house in northwest Pakistan early Friday morning, killing four militants in an attack that comes as Pakistani officials have stepped up their calls for the strikes to end, intelligence officials said. Friday's strike targeted a house in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, a key sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The four militants killed in the strike and three wounded were from Uzbekistan, said the officials. Their precise identities were unclear. The attack occurred while the group was sleeping, the officials said.

#2: An Afghan police officer shot and killed nine other officers in southeast Afghanistan on Thursday night, authorities said. The incident occurred in Paktika province, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. Two police officers were arrested, and another, believed to be part of the attack, fled, the spokesman said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said in a statement that the officer who fired the shots was actually a Taliban fighter.

#3: Dozens of Taliban fighters were killed in US air strikes and a firefight in western Afghanistan, which followed an attack by the Taliban rebels on an army patrol, NATO and Afghan officials said Friday. An Afghan military patrol was attacked in Gulistan district in western Farah province on Wednesday, prompting a call for air support, Reuters reported, citing an International Security Assistance Force spokesperson. "Numerous insurgents were killed, and several motorbikes were damaged or destroyed" following two strikes by coalition aircraft, he said. About 30 Taliban militants were killed and another 15 injured in the gunbattle in the remote Afghan province, Abdul Raoof Ahmadi, an Afghan police spokesperson said. Five vehicles of Afghan national army came under attack and three soldiers were charred inside the vehicles while they were crossing Gulistan, Mohammed Yunus Rasouli, the deputy governor for Farah, said.

#4: ‘Geo TV’ quoting official recourses said that security forces conducted clearance operation in Balaras and Khadezai areas of Upper Orakzai Agency where 35 militants were killed. One security man also lost his life while four others got injured during the operation against extremists. Security forces have taken control of Balaras area.

#5: A NATO supply convoy came under heavy attack by Taliban insurgents in western Afghanistan, with 37 dead reported in the firefight and NATO airstrikes that ensued, Afghan officials said Thursday. The victims included seven private security guards with two firms guarding the convoy, according to an official at one of the companies, plus two Afghan National Army soldiers and numerous members of the Taliban. Fayaz Jailani, the regional operations manager for GFI Security, said the convoy came under attack late Wednesday by 70 to 80 insurgents with heavy machine guns and other weapons. The attack took place in the Gulistani district of Farah province, and the convoy was en route from Herat province to a NATO base in Helmand province, Jailani said.

#6: A patrol of Finnish peacekeepers came under attack in northern Afghanistan on Thursday evening, local time. According to the Finnish Defense Forces, the soldiers took fire from insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades. The attack took place in the Chimtal district about 30 km west of Mazar-i-Sharif. There were no causalities.


DoD: Sgt. William R. Wilson III

DoD: Sgt. Joseph D’Augustine

DoD: Capt. Francis D. Imlay

MoD: Sergeant Luke Taylor

MoD: Lance Corporal Michael Foley

News: Captain Christophe Schnetterle