News of the Day for Sunday, October 30, 2012

Battle at a checkpoint between Afghan and ISAF troops results in death of one U.S. service member, a civilian contractor of unstated nationality, and an unstated number of Afghan troops. An investigation is underway.

Unclear whether this refers to the same incident. According to local authorities in Maidan Wardak province, Afghan and coalition security forces clashed with each other at Syedabad district on Saturday evening. A spokesman for the provincial government confirmed that the incident occurred Saturday evening at Sesi arae in Syedabad district. Another source says at least 3 Afghan soldiers were killed.

This is the 2,000th U.S. military death in Afghanistan. Sky News reviews the sad story:

The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 targeted al-Qaida and its Taliban allies following the September 11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives in the United States. ictory in Afghanistan seemed to come quickly. Kabul fell within weeks, and the hard-line Taliban regime was toppled with few US casualties.

But the Bush administration's shift toward war with Iraq left the Western powers without enough resources on the ground, so by 2006 the Taliban had regrouped into a serious military threat. President Obama sent more troops to Afghanistan, where casualties have increased sharply in the last few years. But the American public has grown weary of having its military in a perpetual state of conflict, especially after the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq at the end of last year.

Afghan Interior Ministry says 16 insurgents have been killed  in various operations in the past 24 hours. In addition to a few weapons, they say 5,560 kg of fertilizer were seized. I'm not sure what that's all about but it sounds from this and some other clues as though at least some of these raids were actually on opium growers, who may or may not be insurgents per se. -- C

And right on cue, the Russian drug "czar" -- okay that's my term for him he's actually Victor Ivanov, Chairman of the Administration for Supervision of Russian Narcotics -- alleges that 20,000 tons of narcotics have been stockpiled in northern Afghanistan for export to Russia and Europe. (That's a lot, BTW -- elsewhere in the article the figure is given as 2,000. Not sure what he really said.)

This is odd. Helmand provincial police chief Farid Ahmad Farhang told TOLOnews Saturday that coalition forces carried out an airstrike which killed at least one insurgent. However, ISAF Joint Command spokesman Lt. Col. Hagen Messer told TOLOnews that according to ISAF reports there have been no airstrikes in Helmand in the past week.

War News for Saturday, September 29, 2012

Nato resumes joint patrols with Afghans: Panetta

Afghan troops get a lesson in American cultural ignorance


Reported security incidents
#1: At least four people have been killed in a US airstrike carried out in Afghanistan’s western province of Heart,Press TV reports. The government officials said the four were killed on Saturday. The Western military alliance has not yet commented on the incident.
 
#2: Afghan authorities say a roadside bomb has killed two policemen in Herat province of western Afghanistan, just hours before a ceremony to hand a nearby police training academy over from NATO to Afghan control. Raouf Ahmedi, a spokesman for the Afghan police commander for the western region, says one of the policemen killed in Saturday's explosion was a teacher at the academy in Adraskan district. He says two other policemen were injured by the remote-controlled bomb that exploded as their vehicle passed.

#3: At least 14 militants were killed and several others injured in operation by security forces’ in different areas of the Upper Orakzai Agency, officials said on Saturday. According to the official sources, four hideouts of the terrorists were also destroyed in the crackdown. The forces are advancing in the area. Orakzai is the only tribal agency of the country which does not border Afghanistan.

#4: Two policemen were injured in a remote controlled blast that targeted a police van in a suburban area of Kohat, FP News desk reported Saturday. According to police, an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a police van of Saddar police station in Shadi Khel area of Kohat when it was on a routine patrol. As a result of blast, two policemen were hurt while the vehicle was also damaged.

#5: The family of three was riding a motorcycle in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, and struck by a NATO tank after receiving a go-ahead signal from traffic police, police spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang said. The 8-year-old was killed on the spot and his mother was wounded, but the father stayed unhurt, he said.

#6: At least five Torbat residents who took up arms against the attacking insurgents have been killed, said Reza, national army spokesman for Faryab and Jawzajan. Groups of Taliban simultaneously attacked a village in northern Faryab province in an apparent attempt to take control of the village from government forces, local officials said. According to unconfirmed reports, the Taliban captured Torbat village in Almar district, but government officials said it is too soon to confirm because the clash with security forces is ongoing. The insurgents "attacked from four sides" at around 5:00AM, according to the provincial police chief Abdul Khaliq Aqsai, adding that both national and local police forces are fighting back. At least two local police have been killed and another one was wounded, Reza said, adding that the casualties among the Taliban are still unclear.

#7: Ten Taliban militants were killed as NATO-led forces aircraft raided their hideout in Helmand province 555 km south of capital Kabul on Friday, police spokesman in the province, Farid Ahmad Farhang said Saturday. "A group of Taliban rebels were going in Marja district to target security forces when the aircraft of NATO-led ISAF identified their hideout and attacked them killing 10 militants on the spot," Farhang told Xinhua.

#8: In the meantime Afghan interior ministry following a statement on Saturday announced more than 20 militants were killed following military operations by Afghan security forces. The source further added Afghan security forces also detained more than 21 other militants during the operations which were conducted in Kabul, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Paktiya and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Orion N. Sparks

DoD: Sgt. Jonathan A. Gollnitz

War News for Friday, September 28, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: A senior bomb disposal officer was killed on Friday as he attempted to defuse a device in Budh Bair area of Peshawar, Geo News reported. According to police, bomb squad veteran Hukam Khan, aged in his late 50s, successfully defused one device but was killed when a second one exploded as he tried to make it safe. Three police officers were wounded in the blast. "The bomb planted at the roadside exploded when Hukam Khan was trying to defuse it," a senior police officer in Peshawar told. An intelligence official said Khan defused the first improvised explosive device (IED) but was killed while attempting to defuse the second.

#2: A security official and five terrorists were killed when Taliban attacked a security checkpost in the Kadakard area on Thursday. According to sources, the checkpost was attacked by a large number of Taliban late on Wednesday. The clash between the terrorists and security personnel continued on Thursday, resulting in death of a security official and five attackers.

#3: Two persons were killed and 10 others wounded in a bomb blast in Musa Qala district, an official said Thursday. An explosive rigged motorcycle exploded in the Musa Qala district headquarters, leaving two civilians dead and 10 wounded, said Lalal Muhammad Ahamdi, head of Helmand governor's office.

#4: Several militants were killed in an operation in Khost province 150 km southeast of Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday, the NATO-led coalition forces said. "An Afghan-led security force, supported by coalition troops, killed a number of insurgents during an operation to arrest a Haqqani leader in Sabari district, Khost province today," the coalition said in a statement.

#5: four Taliban militants were killed and two others injured following a clash in Badakhshan province 315 km northeast of Kabul earlier Thursday. "Up to 50 Taliban militants hold a meeting to talk and convince locals to join them in Saghi village of Shuhadah district this morning but as arrival of the police forces they fled the area, leaving four dead and two injured behind following a short gunfight with the police," deputy provincial police chief, Sakhi Hidari, told Xinhua.

War News for Thursday, September 27, 2012

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Gunners Mate 2nd Class Dion Rashun Roberts died in a vehicle accident in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Saturday, September 22nd. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.


‘CIA sends monthly fax to ISI outlining drone attack plans’

Local soldier critically wounded in Afghanistan

Afghan troops taking on perilous fight against insurgency

25 Japanese SDF personnel sent to Iraq commit suicide


Reported security incidents
#1: A total of 45 Taliban militants were killed during military operations in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Ministry of Interior Affairs said Thursday. "Afghan National Police in collaboration with the army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched six joint cleanup operations in Kunduz, Uruzgan, Wardak, Ghazni, Ghor and Helmand provinces, killing 45 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 32 other suspects over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates to the media.

#2: Two civilians were killed and two other civilians were wounded when an explosive device fixed in a motorcycle went off in a bazaar in Musa Qala district of southern Helmand province on Wednesday afternoon, provincial police spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang told Xinhua on Thursday morning.


DoD: Gunners Mate 2nd Class Dion Rashun Roberts

War News for Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, September 26th. News reports that a suicide car bomb followed by small a arms fire and rocket attack on a patrol defusing a bomb on the side of a road in lager province killed two NATO soldiers.


Soldier charged with manslaughter after trying to cure another of hiccups

Training Afghan Allies, With Guard Firmly Up


Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen shot dead a senior official of the Geological Survey of Pakistan on Wednesday in an apparent sectarian attack in the troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said. Mohsin Ali Naqvi, a member of the minority Shiite community, was gunned down outside his office in Quetta, the Baluchistan capital, Mohammed Ayaz, a senior police official, told AFP.

#2: At least four Afghan civilians were injured in a bomb blast Tuesday morning in the west of Kabul city, local officials said. A bomb exploded near a market in the Mahtab Qala area of Kabul at around 10:50AM local time, injuring at least four people, officials said.

#3: Two NATO containers were targeted by militants in Ghunja Douri area of Mastung district on Tuesday. Armed miscreants opened fire at two NATO containers going to Karachi from Quetta due to which a container overturned. However, no casualty, injury or loss otherwise has been reported.

#4: Six labourers of Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) went missing on Tuesday from Inzar Cheena area of Shakai, in South Waziristan Agency.  Sources said, unidentified miscreants kidnapped the FWO workers from Inzar Cheena and their whereabouts were still not known. The Shakai area is inhabited by the Wazir tribe where Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir has sway.

#5: Afghan police backed by army and the NATO-led forces have killed 40 Taliban fighters and captured 13 others over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Wednesday. "The units of Afghan National Police backed by the army and the NATO-led Coalition Forces launched seven joint cleanup operations in Laghman, Kunduz, Faryab, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika and Herat provinces over the past 24 hours during which 40 armed Taliban rebels have been killed and 13 others made captive," the statement contended. However, it did not reveal if there were any casualties on the security forces.


MoD: Captain Carl Manley

News: Civ. Ms. Jeni Ayris

War News for Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from natural causes in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on Monday, September 24th.


Afghanistan: Oxford graduate officer shot himself day before 30th birthday

Afghan insurgent attacks on NATO forces drop: ISAF --  Insurgent attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan dropped by five percent in the first eight months of this year, but are still running at around 100 a day, the latest official figures show.

Drones in Pakistan traumatise civilians, US report says

Taliban Release Video on Afghan Base Attackers


Reported security incidents
#1: A security man was killed and another sustained injuries in a bomb blast in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Monday. Officials said that security personnel were returning to their barracks after escorting a convoy, supplying goods to Nato forces in Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device planted in the bushes along the road exploded. The explosion caused injuries to two security personnel, who were taken to a hospital where one of them identified as Amjad Malikdinkhel succumbed to his injuries.

#2: A US drone strike on Monday killed at least five terrorists in the tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. The strike targeted a compound in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. The drone fired two missiles, they said. A security official in Miranshah told AFP that five terrorists had been killed. "The compound was located in Kaderkhail village, some 40 kilometres east of Miranshah, which is the headquarters of the North Waziristan tribal district," the official added.

#3: Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition troops have eliminated five militants in operations launched in eastern Afghan provinces within a 24-hour period, the coalition forces said in a statement on Tuesday. "Afghan and coalition forces killed five insurgents, detained one, located two weapons caches and cleared seven improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," coalition's Regional Command-East (RC-E) said in the statement. The operations were launched in eastern Logar, Laghman, Ghazni, Khost, Paktia and Nangarhar provinces.

#4: The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) on Monday defused a bomb in Badhber area of Peshawar District, averting a terror bid near a police checkpost. According to details, miscreants planted a bomb in a handcart weighing 30 kilogrammes, however, was defused by BDS near the Sheikhan checkpost.

#5: An explosion rocked capital Kabul on Monday. The incident took place in Dasht-e-Barchi area at western part of capital Kabul. According to preliminary reports the incident took place after an explosive (hand grenade) was thrown at Naqash stop near a market in Dasht-e-Barchi area. At least six people have reportedly been injured following the incident.


MoD: Captain James Anthony Townley

War News for Monday, September 24, 2012

Taliban outflank US war strategy

Ancient site needs saving not destroying


Reported security incidents
#1: About 28 Taliban militants were killed and 54 others detained in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Monday morning. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army and NDS or intelligence agency supported by the NATO-led coalition forces, launched nine joint clearance operations in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni, Ghor, Helmand and Nimroz provinces, killing 28 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 54 others during the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.
#2: Five persons including three policemen and two prisoners were injured when a blast occurred near a police vehicle at Shakai Interchange in Nowshera Monday morning, Geo News reported. According to police, a police mobile was carrying prisoners to court when a remote controlled bomb, targeting the vehicle, exploded at Shakai Interchange near motorway. As a result of explosion, three policemen were injured while two prisoners also received injuries. The injured were shifted to the hospital where they were given the first aid.


MoD: Sergeant Jonathan Eric Kups

News of the Day for Sunday, September 23, 2012

NATO air strike in Helmand province kills 7 people said to be Taliban leaders. In a subsequent ground operation, Mullah Ahmad Mubarak, said to be the Taliban "shadow governor" for the district, is arrested.

Zhou Yongkang, a member China's Standing Committee of the Politburo and that nation's top security official makes a surprise four hour visit to Kabul and meets with Hamid Karzai. He pledges China "will actively participate in Afghanistan’s reconstruction." As we noted here recently, China has invested in Afghan resources including oil and copper. Apart from economic interests, China's main interest in Afghanistan is to prevent the spread of Islamic militancy to its northwestern region.

Wakht News Agency, in broken English, discusses the visit, describing several agreements that were signed:

Both Afghan and China’s related officials signed a program on practicing the signed long-term strategic treaty and two documents on security and economy, after the end of the president and Ziankong meeting in which the second vice president, Mohammad Karim Khalili, presidential security advisor, Dr. Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, ministers of justice and finance, NDS chief and deputy interior minister had taken part.

Another agreement at the cost of $150 million had also been signed between the two sides delegation to be spent on technical and economic fields, as well another deal on national police equipments had been signed during the ceremony.

MoD identifies service member who died on Friday  as Sergeant Jonathan Eric Kups of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Rather mysteriously, it has yet to be confirmed whether his death was the result of hostile action.

ISAF announces arrest of two alleged plotters and a weapons dealer.

It's just blather, but Pakistan's Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour offers a $100,000 bounty for the death of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the filmmaker behind ridiculous "Innocence of Muslims" video. Oh yeah: "Bilour is considered by some in Pakistan to be partially responsible for the deteriorating situation of the country’s railways." But this will make up for that, I'm sure.

Police commander of western Badghis province is accused of raping three women under his command. The accusation is made in parliament by the MP for the district after no action has been taken by the Ministry of the Interior. The commander, Abdul Jabar Sabah, denies the charges although one of his accusers has testified on video. 

War News for Saturday, September 22, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a non-hostile related incident at Camp Bastion, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, September 21st. Here's the ISAF release.

 

The British MoD is reporting the death of a second ISAF soldier from a shooting incident at Forward Operating Base Shawqat, Nad 'Ali districe, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Friday, September 21st. Here's the ISAF release.

 

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

August ‘second deadliest month’ for Afghan civilians: UN

Afghans rally in Kabul, demand Nato troops leave

Troop ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan Ends With Mixed Results

Over 16 killed, nearly 200 injured in anti-U.S. protests in Pakistan

Afghanistan bans Pakistani newspapers publication


Reported security incidents
#1: A US drone strike has killed at least three Islamic militants in Pakistan's restive tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials say. The strike took place on Saturday in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, known as a bastion of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The drone targeted a moving vehicle and fired two missiles, they said. Another official on the ground in Miranshah said the vehicle had been driving through a village 35 kilometres west of Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan tribal district, when it was hit.

#2: Taliban militants have attacked a convoy of NATO supply vehicles transporting goods and fuel for US-led forces and set a tanker on fire in Afghanistan's western province of Herat, Press TV reports.

#3: Afghan police during series of operations have eliminated 19 armed Taliban fighters and detained over a dozen others over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. "During the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police, in conjunction with the army and NATO-led Coalition Forces launched 13 joint cleanup operations in Kandahar, Zabul, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces leaving 19 Taliban rebels dead and capturing 13 others," the statement added. Three more militants sustained injuries during the combat operations, according to the statement. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the security forces.


DoD: Sgt. Jason M. Swindle

War News for Friday, September 21, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in a undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, September 20th.


Reported security incidents
#1: An anti-Taliban tribal leader and four members of his family were killed by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, in the province of Uruzgan. The man, Hajji Qadir, two boys and two women were killed in the attack in the district of Dehrawood, said a spokesman for the provincial governor.

#2: Up to five civilians were killed and seven others injured in a roadside bombing in southern Afghan province of Helmand on Friday, a provincial police spokesman said. "The blast occurred when a civilian vehicle was running along a road in Dahsht area of Naway-e-Barakzai area at around 12:30 p.m. local time and the dead included three adult men and two children, " police spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang told Xinhua.

War News for Thursday, September 20, 2012

China donates 100 ambulances to Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: A powerful car bomb apparently targeting a vehicle of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) near Scheme Chowk on Kohat Road killed 10 people and wounded 34 others.

#2: The units of Afghan national police backed by the army and NATO-led Coalition forces have killed 19 armed Taliban militants and captured 10 others over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Thursday. "Afghan National Police backed by the army and Coalition Forces launched three joint clearance operations in Helmand and Kunduz provinces over the past 24 hours during which 19 armed Taliban were Killed, 22 wounded and 10 others arrested by Police," the statement asserted. However, the statement did not say if there were any casualties on the security forces.

#3: At least three people were killed and six other injured in a blast targeting a police vehicle in Kandahar, a main city in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday night, a provincial government spokesman said.

A deadly explosion rocked southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, killing at least 3 people and injuring five others. Provincial governor spokesman Jawed Faisal confirming the report said the incident took place while a vehicle of the Afghan police forces was crossing the area. Mr. Faisal further added, at least 2 Afghan police officers and an Afghan civilian were killed and five other police officers were injured.

#4: In the meantime unknown gunmen on Wednesday afternoon shot dead two Afghan national police officers and an Afghan civilian in Lashkargah city of southern Helmand province. Helmand provincial governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi said the incident took place around 8:30 pm local time in the central city of Lashkargah.


DoD: Sgt. Sapuro B. Nena

DoD: Spc. Joshua N. Nelson

DoD: Pfc. Genaro Bedoy

DoD: Pfc. Jon R. Townsend

War News for Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: On Wednesday, a bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded outside a police training center in western Afghanistan, killing two security guards, said Herat provincial police spokesman, Noor Khan Nikzad. He said six guards were also wounded in the explosion.

#2: A roadside bomb ripped through a passenger bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding about a dozen, officials said. The blast took place in Mastung district, about 25 kilometres south of Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Baluchistan province.
 
#3: A suicide bomber targeted NATO troops in a remote district of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border on Tuesday, wounding three Western soldiers and killing an Afghan civilian, officials said. A spokesman for the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the incident in Watapur district of Kunar province shortly before 5:00 pm (1230 GMT).

#4: Heavy clashes erupted between Afghan police forces and Taliban militant in Kamdish district of eastern Nuristan province early Wednesday morning. The clashes started around 4:30 am local time after several armed Taliban militants attacked Afghan police forces in this province. Provincial security chief Ghulamullah Nuristani confirming the report said a prominent Taliban leader Hayatullah was killed along with eight other Taliban militants during the clashes. Mr. Nuristani further added the clashes took place in government controlled areas after more than 1000 Taliban militants attacked Afghan police forces, and the fighting is still continuing in the area. He also said at least one Afghan police was killed and three others were injured following the incident.


News: Civ. Brandon Booth

News: Civ. Fraser Carey

News: Civ. Esenbek Niyazaliyev

War News for Tuesday, September 18, 2012

NATO curbs operations with Afghanistan forces


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport in the Afghan capital early Tuesday, killing at least nine people in an attack that a militant group said was revenge for an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. The criminal director for the Kabul police department, Mohammad Zahir, said eight men believed to be civilian foreign nationals working for an aviation company at the airport died in the blast and 10 Afghan bystanders were wounded. The nationalities of the eight were not immediately known. The ninth person killed in the attack was believed to be Afghan.

 The International Affairs Ministry says eight South African citizens were killed in a suicide bomb blast in Afghanistan. Spokesman Nelson Kgwete told The Associated Press that the victims are believed to have been employed by a South African aviation company based at Rand Airport in Johannesburg. A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport in Kabul early Tuesday, killing at least nine people in an attack that a militant group said was revenge for an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad.

#2: An Afghan soldier fired on a vehicle he believed was driven by NATO soldiers on a shared base in southern Afghanistan, slightly wounding a foreign civilian worker, officials said Monday. It was the latest in a string of insider attacks by local forces on their international allies.

#3: Two persons sustained injuries when a Nato container transporting goods for Afghanistan-based Nato forces was targetted with a roadside bomb here on Monday, official sources said. The sources said that militants had planted an explosive device on the roadside in Shagai in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency to target the vehicles supplying goods to Nato forces.

#4: A soldier of Afghan National Army was killed and 10 more wounded in separate attacks, defence ministry said Monday. A press release issued by defence ministry said an ANA soldier was killed and three wounded after bomb and gun attacks in Kajaki and Sangin districts of Helmand province. In a separate statement, the defence ministry said seven ANA troops were injured in similar attacks in Kunar, Paktia and Wardak provinces. The defence ministry said 15 Taliban were also killed.

Up to 21 Taliban militants have been killed in operations carried out by the Afghan police within the past 24 hours, authorities said Tuesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) backed by the Afghan army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched seven cleanup operations in Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Wardak, Logar, Paktika and Nimroz provinces, killing 14 armed Taliban militants over the past hours, " the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

#5: Meanwhile, a policeman and four Taliban were killed during a clash in Bala Murghab district of Badghis province earlier today, police said Monday. Taliban, however, said they lost one fighter and killed six border police in the gunbattle. Taliban attacked a post of border police in Joy Ganj area of Bala Murghab district at approximately 4:00 a.m. (local time), killing police and wounding three others, a senior border police officer in western Afghanistan told Afghan Islamic Press on condition of anonymity. He said four Taliban were also killed in the gunbattle that last for four hours. Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousaf Ahmadi, however, told AIP that six border police were killed and three police vehicles were destroyed by their fighters after the attack. He said a fighter was also killed and the police post damaged after the attack.

DoD: Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible

DoD: Sgt. Bradley W. Atwell

War News for Monday, September 17, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1:  Eight women were killed and eight women wounded in a Nato air strike shortly before dawn on Sunday in a remote area east of Kabul, an Afghan official said. Nato’s US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it had targeted insurgents, but had been made aware of “possible Isaf-caused civilian casualties” numbering five to eight, and extended its sincerest condolences over the “tragic loss of life”.
 
#2: 44 Taliban militants have been killed in military operations in different Afghan provinces, the Interior Ministry said Monday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army and intelligence agency in collaboration with the NATO-led coalition forces launched seven operations in Kunar, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Wardak, Logar, Paktia and Helmand provinces, killing 44 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 20 others within the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement. The statement did not disclose if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.


DoD: Sgt. Kyle B. Osborn

MoD: Lance Corporal Duane Groom

MoD: Sergeant Gareth Thursby

MoD: Private Thomas Wroe

News of the Day for Sunday, September 16, 2012

Local authorities say 8 civilians killed, 5 injured in a NATO airstrike in Laghman province. AFP reports that all of the vicims were women, and that 8 were injured along with the 8 dead. The women were said to be gathering firewood. ISAF initially announced that "its troops had called in an air strike against about 45 insurgents in Laghman "after positively identifying hostile intent" and that "a large number of the insurgents" were killed," but now says it is investigating. Local people transported some of the bodies to the provincial capital, where they demonstrated outside the governor's office chanting "Death to America, Death to the Jews."

Afghan police officer kills 4 NATO troops  in Zabul province. Although the occupying forces have yet to release any details, a local official says that when coalition forces responded to an attack on a police post in Mizana district, one of the local police officers opened fire on them. Some reports say the dead were Americans.

Meanwhile MoD has released some information on the British troops killed by Afghan police on Saturday. They were 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.

A roadside bomb in Pakistan near the Afghan border kills 14 civilians. Taliban take responsibility, saying the action was in response to the villagers support for the government. "'We have informed them of the repercussions of supporting the government but they didn't stop backing the armed forces,' Taliban spokesman Sirajuddin Ahmad said by telephone from an undisclosed location."

More details emerge on the attack on Camp Bastion yesterday, notably that the attackers wore U.S. military uniforms, and that they destroyed 6 British Harrier jets as well as killing two U.S. Marines. ISAF says 14 of the 15 attackers were killed and one captured. Update: CNN erred -- the jets were American, not British. U.S. taxpayers might want to know that they cost about $20 million each. (And btw, how in tarnation do 15 guys with RPGs just walk onto the base and start blowing up fighter jets. Don't they even have a perimeter? Heads ought to roll, starting with Gen. John R. Allen, who should get a letter of reprimand, and retire. -- C)

Students demonstrate in Kabul and Herat in response to the inane film attacking Islam that some Christian extremists posted to YouTube. They demand the closure of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. (This is no big deal. -- C)

ISAF says it has captured a Taliban commander responsible for the shootdown of a U.S. Kiowa chopper two weeks ago that killed the two crew members. (Oh, so I guess it wasn't mechanical trouble after all. -- C)

Northern Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor condemns religious leaders for their reticence to condemn suicide attacks and other violence:

"It is really embarrassing that the religious scholars and the Ulema National Council see all the crimes and just release a statement to the President. Why do they not say to the people that those who are destroying, killing are the criminals? Killing is the biggest sin and forbidden in Islam," he said at the ceremony in Balkh's capital Mazar-e-Sharif. . . .

Noor's comments come a day after the Taliban released a statement saying there was a big difference between suicide and the martyrdom of suicide bombers. "Suicide is self-killing and martyrdom attack is seeking of martyrdom willingly," the statement said. "The reason behind suicide is frustration from life and the seeking of martyrdom is actually seeking the consent of Allah. It elevates the word of Allah and strengthens the Muslims. The objective is to frighten the enemy, kill them and eventually defeat them." . .. "It is repeatedly reminded to the Mujahidin to desist from public casualties and be cautious in choosing the target. But most of the time our sly enemy and their stooges blast bombs amid the masses and then blame Mujahidin for it. They have done it in other countries as well."

War News for Saturday, September 15, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Friday, September 14th. Here’s the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in a undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, September 15th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Heavily armed insurgents attacked a British air base in southern Afghanistan Friday, killing two U.S. Marines and wounding several other troops, U.S. officials said. Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, is stationed at the base on a four-month combat tour. There was no immediate word on his whereabouts at the time of the attack. U.S. officials said the attack at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan’s Helmand province involved a range of insurgent weaponry, possibly including mortars, rockets or rocket-propelled grenades, as well as small-arms fire. A number of aircraft at the base also were hit by insurgent fire, another U.S. official said.

A well-armed squad of attackers hit the installation's airfield with “indirect fire” and small-arms fire at about 10 p.m. Friday, damaging some aircraft and buildings, said a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. Initial reports indicated that about 16 insurgents were killed.

#2: Up to 12 civilians, including 10 children, were killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghan province of Helmand on Friday, a provincial government spokesman said Saturday morning. "A vehicle touched off a roadside bomb at around 2 p.m. local time in Goband area of Gereshk district and the powerful blast killed 12 innocent civilians," spokesman Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.

War News for Friday, September 14, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, September 13th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen attacked the residence of a private radio channel’s regional head in Ghazni City, the capital of southern Ghazni province, but inmates escaped unhurt.

#2: Two NATO containers were attacked and later set on fire by some unknown miscreants in Dasht area of District Mastung here on Thursday. According to the sources, unknown armed men attacked two NATO containers coming from Karachi en route to Afghanistan in Dasht area of district Mastung. The goods loaded in the container were burnt to ashes. However, no casualty was reported.

War News for Thursday, September 13, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: Military operations carried out by the Afghan police, army and the NATO-led coalition forces have claimed the lives of 15 Taliban militants in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, authorities said Thursday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army and intelligence agency in collaboration with the coalition forces launched 13 joint cleanup operations in Kapisa, Baghlan, Jowzjan, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Wardak, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika and Helmand provinces over the past 24 hours," the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement issued here. "As a result of these operations, 15 armed Taliban were killed, four wounded and 10 others were arrested by the ANP," the statement said, adding that the joint forces also found and seized weapons and explosive during the above raids. The statement did not say whether there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
 
#2: At least five people were killed as a blast hit a vehicle in Pakistan's northwest Landi Kotal area close to the Afghan border on Thursday morning, reported local media Express. The blast took place at about 8:30 a.m. local time when a roadside planted remote-controlled bomb hit a vehicle in the Zakha Khel area of Landi Kotal, a main town in the country's northwest trial area of Khyber Agency, said the report. Details about the bombing attack are not immediately available as it occurred in the remote areas close to the Afghan border.

At least four members of tribal peace militia were killed in a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Khyber Agency, Geo News reported. Official sources said a remote-control detonated bomb struck the pro-government tribal peacemakers in Tirah Valley near Landi Kotal during the early hours of Wednesday.

#3: In another development, a mortar fired from unknown location hit a house in the Akka Khel area of Khyber Agency earlier this morning, killing four people and injuring two others.

#4: The Taliban on Wednesday shot dead an influential figure, hours after kidnapping him in the Shireen Tagab district of Faryab province, an official said. Ghayas Arab, a pro-government tribal elder from Qara Sheikhi area, was kidnapped along with another man from the Lab Shor village, the district chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#5: A government official says gunmen have killed seven road construction workers in southwest Pakistan. Javed Ahmad says the shootings took place today in Mastung district in Baluchistan province. Ahmad is a local official in Mastung, which is located about 20 miles east of the provincial capital, Quetta.

War News for Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Taliban raised $400 mln in 2011 from donations, extortion: UN

Back to the "Body Count:" The Lack of Reliable Data on the Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

In pictures: Rebuilding Afghanistan's air force

United Nations halts operations in eastern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: A Yankton man was injured early this week when the helicopter he was in was attacked with a rocket in Afghanistan.

#2: A Korean unit stationed at Bagram air base in Afghanistan was hit in an artillery attack overnight on Monday (local time). According to the Defense Ministry on Tuesday, no casualties have been reported, but there was some minor damage to the unit's UH-60 helicopter. The first four rounds of shelling occurred at around 11:58 p.m. on Monday, and the second round was struck at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Defense Ministry said there have been a total of 21 artillery attacks on the U.S. air base this year.

War News for Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: Three members of the Afghan National Security Forces have been killed after a helicopter was hit by munitions fired into Bagram Airfield, a NATO official said Tuesday. Four rounds landed in the airfield on Monday around 10 p.m., said Lt. Col Hagen Messer, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). One of the rounds struck an ISAF helicopter, killing the three Afghan troops and wounding two ISAF service members, Messer said. ISAF is not yet able to confirm the type of the rounds or whether they were rockets or mortars, said Messer.

#2: At least five people were killed and eight others injured Tuesday afternoon in an explosion in a meeting of tribal elders in western Afghan province of Herat, a provincial official said.

#3: A suicide bomb blast rocked western Herat province of Afghanistan on Tuesday. The incident took place in Keshk-e-Kohna district. A spokesman for the Afghan police forces Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said a local police commander was killed following the blast. Mr. Ahmadi further added the incident took place in Keshk-e-Kohna district market after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives while the local police commander Arbab Abdul Hakim was visiting the market.


MoD: Sergeant Lee Paul Davidson

War News for Monday, September 10, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, September 9th. Here's the ISAF statement.


Records Missing on Afghan Army Fuel Costs

US hands over Bagram prison to Afghans

Iraq blasts kill 100 as fugitive VP gets death sentence


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan authorities saidtwo bomb blasts near the governor's compound in a western province have killed a 12-year-old boy and wounded 16 other civilians. Farah provincial spokesman Abdur Rahman Zhuwandai said the bombs were attached to motorcycles parked in two different squares near the governor's office.

#2: At least 10 Taliban militants were killed in an operation in eastern Afghanistan's Laghman province overnight, a provincial government spokesman said Monday morning. "Based on intelligence, an Afghan army and the NATO-led coalition forces unit carried out a search operation in Alishing district Sunday night and the joint forces engaged a group of armed militants in the area," spokesman Sarhadi Zhwak told Xinhua. He said the two sides exchanged fire for quite a long time and several militants fled the area but the fighting left 10 militants dead.
 
#3: Four Nato troops were injured in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Nangarhar province Monday morning, the Nato media office in eastern Afghanistan told TOLOnews. The blast happened on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway in Nangarhar's provincial capital Jalalabad, the media spokesperson said, but no further details about the incident or the nationality of the soldiers were given. The troops based in Nangarhar province are mainly US forces.

#4: A car bomb exploded at a market in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 45, officials said. The officials said the death toll was likely to climb because many people had been walking along a narrow road beside the market in the town of Parachinar in the Kurram tribal area.
 
#5: A suicide bombing rocked Kunduz city in northern Kunduz province 250 km north of capital city Kabul on Monday, leaving a dozen people killed and injured, a local official said. "It was a suicide attack which occurred in provincial capital Kunduz city at 03:10 p.m. local time leaving a dozen people including civilians and security personnel dead and injured," the official told Xinhua but declined to give his name, saying authorized officials would brief the media after investigation.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jose L. Montenegro Jr.

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Thalia S. Ramirez

MoD: Guardsman Karl Whittle

News of the Day for Sunday, September 9, 2012

ISAF service member killed in an explosion  in southern Afghanistan. As usual, no further details given as of now.

Three explosions near the governor's compound in western Farah province  kill one person and injure 12. All of the casualties are apparently civilians.

A remote control mine in Kajaki, Helmand province, kills 5 Afghan soldiers and injures 2, one critically.

A Haaqqani commander says captive U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl will not be harmed, despite the U.S. declaration that the Haqqani network is a terrorist organization. However, he threatens stepped up attacks. "We are not cowards, and we consider it as coward to harm prisoners," he said. But, "Sirajuddin Haqqani, the organization's military commander, is seeking permission from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to stage a blitzkrieg of attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the commander said."

Six Taliban are reported killed in an Afghan army operation in Herat. Their commander, Mullah Nooruddin, is said to have been injured but escaped.

British soldier who died Friday of wounds suffered in August is identified as Guardsman Karl Whittle of The Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.

Two people killed and 15 injured in a battle between armed groups  in west Kabul on Saturday. "The chief of the Kabul police criminal investigation unit Mohammad Zahir told TOLOnews that police were working on identifying the groups to arrest them." (This is an odd story -- it seems not to be linked to insurgency but to political rivalry, but it isn't specified.)

Did you know that Afghanistan has oil? I didn't. Not a whole lot but "According to Afghan mines ministry officials the five locations in Sar-e-Pul and Jowzjan proivnces of Afghanistan, on which the extraction work has already started contains around 87 million barrels of fuel which is around 20% of the fuel deposits in Amu River basin." A Chinese company has the concession.

Guess what? They also have copper, also being mined by a Chinese company. Militant attacks have forced some of the Chinese mine workers to flee the country. However, "Ahmad Tamim Asi chief of the public relations in the ministry of mines of Afghanistan said the extraction process in Aynak copper mine has not been affected after Chinese workers left Afghanistan and the Afghan government has taken necessary security precautions in this regard."

Remember Iraq?  Not a good situation. At least 58 people killed in explosions around the country, including a car bombing outside the French consulate in Nassiriya that killed 1 guard and injured 5, and two car bombings near a Shiite shrine in Amara that killed 16 people. Reuters also reports:

• Overnight in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen and a suicide bomber driving a car attacked a military base, killing 11 soldiers and injuring seven, police said.
• Later on Sunday, a car bomb killed eight people queuing for jobs as police guards for the Iraqi North Oil Company in the flashpoint city of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said.
• Kirkuk was hit by several other blasts. A car bomb and a bomb packed into a motorcycle detonated outside a crime investigation office, killing seven and wounding 40.
• More people were killed in several other blasts across the country, including in the towns of Baquba, Samarra, Basra and Tuz Khurmato.

And a judge has sentenced fugitive Sunni VP Tareq Hashemi to death, along with his son and secretary. Hashemi, who is in Doha, says the charges are a politically motivated witch hunt.

War News for Saturday, September 08, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, U.K. on Friday, September 7th. The soldier was wounded from unreported enemy action in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 14th.


Turkish troops kill 26 PKK rebels in major offensive

Kabul Unrest: Separate clashes reported in Pul-e-Surkh


Reported security incidents
#1: At least six civilians have been killed in a suicide blast near the heavily-barricaded Nato headquarters in Afghanistan's capital.  A suicide bomber detonated explosives near the heavily barricaded Nato headquarters in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul on Saturday killing six civilians, Nato and local officials said. The bomber, who was riding an explosives-laden motorcycle, blew himself up near the entrance of Camp Eggers, a Nato spokeswoman said, referring to a sprawling base that is home to 2,500 coalition personnel who train Afghan security forces. Unfortunately a suicide attack happened in front of the Italian embassy

#2: In Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, two tribal elders were killed when a bomb exploded outside one of their homes. "A bomb placed at the entrance of Malik Abdul Majid's house killed him and another elder and wounded two of Majid's sons," said provincial spokesperson Abdullah Hemat.

#3: A roadside bomb in the Nahri Sarraj district of neighbouring Helmand province killed two women and wounded two others, the governor's spokesperson Farid Ahmad Farhang said

#4: Afghan police backed by the army have killed over a dozen Taliban militants and arrested five others over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement Saturday. "In the operations backed by the national army and the NATO- led troops in parts of several provinces including Kabul and the southern Helmand province, 14 Taliban rebels were killed and five others captured," the statement added. There were no casualties on the security forces, it added. However, Taliban militants fighting the government have yet to comment.

#5: According to local authoirities in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, a heavy explosion took place in central Tarinkowt city in this province. The officials further added the incident took place early Saturday morning near the house of a local tribal elder. At least two people including Dr. Nematullah Khan the local tribal elder were killed following the blast. Malik Majid Khan was the other local tribal elder who was killed along Dr. Nematullah khan in today’s blast. Provincial governor spokesman confirming the report said the explosion also injured two sons of Dr. Nematullah and the health condition of one of them is critical.

War News for Friday, September 07, 2012

Over 50 killed in rain-related accidents in Pakistan -- At least 50 people were killed and several others went missing as torrential rains hit parts of east, south, northwest and northeast of Pakistan over the last 24 hours, local media and officials said on Thursday. --  looks like heavy rain is in this part of the world so it may be a slow weekend for the war. -- whisker.


Reported security incidents
#1: Motorbike gunmen Friday shot dead a senior police officer investigating sectarian killings in Pakistan’s troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, police said. The incident took place in Quetta. Police said the assailants sprayed Quetta’s Superintendent Police (SP) Investigation Jamil Kakar with bullets when he left his house in his official car, killing him and injuring a police guard.

#2: A local Taliban leader was killed in an airstrike carried out by the NATO-led coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Thursday, the ISAF forces said Friday.


DoD: Pfc. Shane W. Cantu

War News for Thursday, September 06, 2012

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a helicopter crash in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan, on Wednesday, September 5th.


U.S. to Retain Role as a Jailer in Afghanistan

Libyan Alleges Waterboarding by C.I.A., Report Says

Afghan Army take security lead in 5 districts of Baghlan

Thousands Afghans Surge to Join Afghan Army to Shoot Americans -- (This is just too true just not to be meant as a satirical writing. whisker )


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan police during series of operations have killed 38 Taliban fighters over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Thursday. "Units of national police backed the army and the NATO-led troops conducted seven cleanup operations in different provinces including the capital Kabul and Taliban former stronghold Kandahar over the past 24 hours during which 38 Taliban rebels were killed," the statement added. Eight more Taliban fighters were injured and 15 others made captive, it contended. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the security forces.

#2: At least 24 Afghan national army soldiers were killed or injured in various incidents across the country during the past 24 hours (posted on 9-5). Afghan defense ministry following a statement announced the national army soldiers were killed or injured in militants attacks and roadside improvised explosive device explosions. The source further added at least four Afghan national army soldiers were killed in Bakwa district of western Farah province, 10 soldiers were injured in Jalrez district of Maidan Wardak province, and 9 other soldiers were injured and another one was killed in Badghis, Nangarhar, Ghazni, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces of Afghanistan.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Alec R. Terwiske