War News for Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: Two grenades exploded inside a mosque compound during morning prayers in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, wounding at least nine worshippers, an Afghan official said. Three grenades were thrown into the mosque compound in Baghi Sara area, Khost police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai said. One exploded inside the mosque itself, and one in the courtyard outside. The third failed to detonate. He said many of those praying were Afghans who work at the nearby US base, Forward Operating Base Salerno.

Khost (BNA) In bomb attack of armed Taliban on a base of NATO forces in Khost province, 11 Afghan employees were wounded this morning. This event occurred when Afghan employees waiting in front of the gate of NATO base in Sahrabagh area, of Khost city. It is said that two armed Taliban threw grenades to Afghan employees. Eyewitness said that Taliban after throwing grenades bombs escaped from the area.

#2: Suicide bombers launched multiple attacks in a remote corner of southwestern Afghanistan near the Iranian border Tuesday, killing dozens of people including shoppers buying sweets for a Muslim holiday and leaving charred and smoldering bits of cookies and dried fruit among the bodies on the ground. A separate market bombing, this one in northern Afghanistan, brought the overall death toll to 46, most of whom were civilians. It was the deadliest day for Afghan civilians this year. The attacks in provinces on opposite ends of the country -- Nimroz in the southwest and Kunduz in the north.

#3: Security forces took control of the strategic post of Dalanai in Orakzai Agency on Tuesday after a fierce clash in which 25 militants and two troops were killed. Sources said 22 security men, including a captain, were injured in the morning in the area, about 78km north of Ghaljo, the headquarters of upper Orakzai tehsil and a strong base of militants. According to security sources, 25 militants, including their two commanders, Abu Salman and Sher Shah, were killed in the clash and 14 others injured. Eight injured militants were arrested. The sources claimed that troops had taken control of Dalanai and hoisted the national flag there. They also claimed to have secured about 92 per cent area of the tribal agency.

#4: A district governor was killed along with his three guards in a Taliban attack in Baharak district in Badakhshan province Tuesday. The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) their fighters attacked Afghan security forces in Bandra area, Baharak district, Badakhshan province. He claimed five persons were killed and two more injured in the attack. He said the dead included the governor of Shaghnan district, Saifullah Sadiqi and four police personnel. A vehicle of the Afghan forces was also destroyed in the attack, he added. Meanwhile, the Badakhshan Governor's spokesman Abdul Maroof Rasikhi confirmed the incident. He, however, did not give any details. A high-rankingsecurity official in Badakhshan, wishing not to be named, told the AIP that the governor of Shaghnan district, Saifullah Sadiqi, was killed along with his three companions in the attack.

#5: Meanwhile, at least three police were injured in two back-to-back explosions in the limits of Lashkargah, capital of southern Helmand province, last night, police said Tuesday.

#6: According to political administration officer Amin Khan, security personnel fell prey to a planted landmine while on a regular patrol in Saragarhi area of central Kurram agency. One of the personnel was killed while three others were wounded.

#7: Meanwhile, a remote-controlled bomb exploded near a passenger vehicle in lower Kurram Agency’s Bugzai area. The blast injured three people, who were shifted to Tehsil Alizai Hospital.

#8: Eight mine planters including two Pakistani nationals were killed by their own explosives in the Mahtarlam city capital of Laghman province, last night at 08:30 pm, the ministry of interior said Wednesday. The incident took place when the rebels were planting a roadside mine on the in the capital city of the eastern province, the statement added.

#9: About 26 Taliban insurgents were killed and 34 others detained in the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Wednesday morning. "Afghan police, army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched seven joint cleanup operations in Kabul, Takhar, Kandahar, Logar, Ghazni, Helmand and Nimroz provinces, killing 18 armed Taliban insurgents over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#10: According to local authorities in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan, a suspected suicide bomber was shot dead in Dasht-e-Archi district in this province on Wednesday before he detonate his explosives. District chief for Dasht-e-Archi Sheikh Sadruddin said the incident took place around 6:30 am local time and the suicide bomber was shot dead by US troops while he was looking to enter a military bus.