War News for Monday, December 31, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, December 29th.

Afghan Camps Receive Winter Aid, but Officials Say It Isn’t Enough


Reported security incidents
#1: At least one person was killed when 11 oil trucks supplying fuel for the NATO-led coalition forces caught fire following a blast in eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Sunday evening. "Initially, an oil tanker caught fire after an explosion by a sticky bomb but later it engulfed 10 more trucks in the incident which took place at about 6 p.m. local time in Behsud district," Mohammad Zahir police chief of the district told Xinhua. One driver who was wounded in the incident later died of his wounds in a hospital in the incident, he said.

#2: Pakistani troops killed eight militants during an operation in Khyber Agency while the bodies of nine Taliban fighters were found dumped in another part of the lawless tribal belt, officials said today. Security officials said a clash erupted this morning when troops attacked a militant hideout in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency near the border with Afghanistan.

#3: Thirteen armed opponents have been arrested in various parts of the country, the defence and interior ministries said Sunday. The security forces arrested two armed opponents, including a facilitator of Maulvi Haqqani network, in Logar's capital Pul-i-Alam, a defence ministry press release available with the AIP stated. Four armed opponents were held in Spin Boldak district of Wardak province while the security forces seized a weapons cache, including 600 kilograms of explosives, three IEDs and other war gadgets in Grishk district. The press release said an Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier was killed and two more were injured in attack and bomb blast of the enemy in Laghman and Nangarhar provinces.

#4: Afghan police have eliminated 10 armed Taliban militants during operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday. In the operations carried out in Kunar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Wardak, Logar and Ghazni provinces, nine more militants were captured. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on police.

News of the Day for Sunday, December 30, 2012

NATO service member reported killed by an explosion while on patrol, As usual, no further details at this time.

Republic of Georgia soldier missing earlier this month found shot to death in an abandoned house in Helmand. The remains of Sergeant Giorgi Kikadze, who disappeared on December 19, were found in Musla Gula. He is the 19th Georgian to die in the conflict.

Pakistani Taliban kidnap 23 Pakistani soldiers in 2 raids on camps in Peshawar, 21 are found dead, executed with their hands tied. Two escaped.

NATO says 5 Taliban commanders are arrested in various operations.

Record number of Afghan soldiers are killed in 2012, a total of 1,056.


WaPo's Kevin Seiff discusses the fight between political factions over custody of sacred artifacts, focusing on a cloak believed to have been worn by the prophet. Five predecessors of current guardian Masood Akhundzada have been assassinated.

Police in Kandahar find a cache of arms and ammunition.

Afghan Army Chief of Staff Shir Mohammad Karimi discusses report on challenges facing Afghan security services as NATO exits combat role.

Khaama reports that a "U.S. firm" will invest $700 million in the Afghan petroleum industry. However, they do not identify the firm.

Magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush, is felt in Kabul.

War News for Saturday, December 29, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: US drones targeting a suspected militant compound on Friday killed four people in Pakistan's restive tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. The attack took place in Gurbuz town, 65 kilometres southwest of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, a security official said. "The drones fired two missiles on a house believed to be a militant centre. Four militants were killed and two injured," he said. Another official said eight missiles hit the house and the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. "We have no information about the identity of those killed in the missile strike," the official said. A security official in Peshawar confirmed the toll.

#2: A bomb killed a local police commander and wounded two cops in Charchino district of Uruzgan province today, police said Friday. Earlier, Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousaf Ahmadi told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that their fighters conducted a tactical explosion on local police commaner, Mano, in Gorgin area of Charchino district. He said commander Mano Aqa was killed after his vehicle struck a landmine today's noon, adding the blast also left two local police wounded.

#3: Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen shot dead two brothers and wounded another in Muhammad Agha district of Logar province yesterday, an official said Friday. The three brothers were on way back to home from Kabul when attacked by unknown gunmen near their house in Gulabo Qala area approximately 6:30 p.m. (local time), said Abdul Hameed Hamed, administrator of Muhammad Agha district.

#4: Five militants were killed during a joint Afghan-ISAF military operation in the Hesarak district of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Friday. The joint force came under attacks from the rebels in Daud Qala and Langakhel areas of the town, police chief Brig. Gen. Abdullah Stanikzai told Pajhwok Afghan News.

War News for Friday, December 28, 2012

US drone strikes decrease in Pakistan in 2012: Report


Reported security incidents
#1-2: One policeman was killed and four people were wounded in two separate explosions in southern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.

#1: “A roadside bomb went off near an Afghan Local Police (ALP) patrol in Charchino district, Uruzgan province at around 12 p.m. local time, killing an ALP commander in the district named Manni and wounding two policemen,” the police spokesman in the province Farid Farhang told Xinhua.

#2: In neighbouring Kandahar province, two civilians were wounded as a bomb attached to a bicycle targeted a police vehicle in provincial capital Kandahar city earlier Friday, according to provincial government spokesman Jawid Faisal. Faisal said all cops aboard the vehicle were unharmed in the attack.

#3: The Pakistani Taliban have seized at least 22 men from a regional paramilitary force in attacks on three checkpoints in northern Pakistan, a regional official said on Thursday. Taliban and other Pakistani sources put the number higher. At least 22 men were missing, two had been killed and one was injured after militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles launched the overnight attacks, said Naveed Akbar, a regional official whose remit covers the Levies, or tribal force, units.

Militants in Pakistan killed two security forces and abducted 21 others in an assault on two military camps Thursday, a government official told CNN. More than 200 people suspected to be members of the Taliban conducted the actions, said Nazeed Akbar, a government official. The camps are nearly two miles apart on the outskirts of Peshawar. The militants swamped the camps on foot and in vehicles around 2 a.m. A gunfight lasting more than an hour ensured. Along with those missing and killed, at least one security force member was injured.

#4: Five militants were killed during a joint Afghan-ISAF military operation in the Hesarak district of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Friday. The joint force came under attacks from the rebels in Daud Qala and Langakhel areas of the town, police chief Brig. Gen. Abdullah Stanikzai told Pajhwok Afghan News. In the ensuing clashes, five attackers were killed, he said.

War News for Thursday, December 27, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: Four Afghan policemen were killed and two wounded on Thursday in an insurgent attack assisted by an insider loyal to the Taliban, officials said. Attackers stormed the police post at Trin Kot, a remote district in the southern province of Uruzgan, before dawn and killed the officers as they slept, police spokesman Farid Ahmad Aiel told AFP. One policeman who fled with the insurgents was believed to be a Taliban infiltrator who aided the attack, Aiel said. One gunman was wounded during fighting and later arrested, he added.


DoD: Sgt. Enrique Mondragon

War News for Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide car bomber targeting a U.S.-operated base in eastern Afghanistan killed at least three Afghans and injured six others Wednesday, officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties among U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces. Afghan officials said the attack happened shortly after 7 a.m. near the entrance to Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khowst, a province near the border of Pakistan that is a hotbed of insurgent activity. The bomber detonated a minivan packed with explosives when stopped by Afghan security guards at a checkpoint on a road leading to the base, said Provincial Police Chief Abdul Qayoum Baqizoy. One of the guards and two civilian drivers were killed in the blast, which also injured six other people, he said.

#2: In the meantime a local police official said the assailant struck Wednesday as the convoy was traveling to the airport near the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan. NATO command could not confirm the attack and Afghan authorities had no further details.

#3: Two Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and three children were injured in two explosions in Shahkas and Sepah areas of Bara and Jamrud on Tuesday, sources said. The first incident was reported in the Shahkas area of Jamrud where an explosive device placed near the resident of a tribesman, Gohar, went off injuring his three children, sources said. Administration officials rushed to the explosion site and collected evidence for a probe, sources said. In the second incident, a security forces' convoy was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb, planted by militants, on the roadside in Sepah area of Bara, sources said. Two FC troops, identified as Nauman Ahmad and Shaman Gul, were injured and moved to a military hospital. A tank was also destroyed in the explosion, sources said. Meanwhile, a militant was killed and another wounded in a shootout between two militant groups in Maidan, a far-flung area of Tirrah Valley, sources said.

#4: Two militants were killed and four persons, including two security men, received injuries in separate incidents in Khyber Agency on Tuesday, sources said. They said that a militant was killed and another injured in a firing incident in Loe Shalman area of Landi Kotal. In another incident, two security personnel were injured in a roadside blast in Bara. In Tirah, an activist of banned militant group Ansarul Islam killed his colleague Farooq Khan and injured another.

War News for Tuesday, December25, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: Six militants have been killed and nine others detained in military operations over the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) together with the army and the NATO-led coalition forces carried out six cleanup operations in Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost, Helmand and Nimroz provinces, killing six armed Taliban insurgents and detaining nine others over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in daily operational updates.

#2: Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed four Taliban militants including their commander in northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Monday, a statement of ISAF said Tuesday. “An Afghan and coalition security force killed the Taliban leader, Qadir, and three other insurgents, during an operation in Baghlan-e Jadid district, Baghlan province, yesterday,” the statement added.

#3: A roadside bomb explosion has killed three Afghan civilians in the western Afghanistan province of Farah, Press TV reports. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, a provincial police spokesman, said that the incident took place on Tuesday when a civilian vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) in the province’s Bakwa district.

#4: Two local policemen, hailing from the Chora district of central Uruzgan province, were killed in the border town of Chaman in Balochistan province, said a local police commander, Allauddin. The policemen had taken a female patient to Chaman, where they were seized by Pakistani Taliban immediately after reaching the city, he said. The militants freed the woman but shot dead the policemen.

#5: Five armed Taliban were killed in a clash with police in Nangarhar province when the security forces wanted to destroy poppy cultivation in Khogyani district of that province. Hazrat Hosain Mashreqiwal spokesman for Nangarhar security commandment said to BNA, this event occurred when the national army forces and police went to Wazir area, Khogyani district for destroying of poppy farms came under armed attack. According to him, in this clash, five attackers attributed to Taliban group were killed and five others wounded. Mashreqiwal said, 4 civilians have been wounded as well. It is said that some days back, a clash took place in Wazir area, of Khogyani district for elimination of poppy farms in which 7 person were lost their lives.


News: Civ. Joseph Griffin

War News for Monday, December 24, 2012

The DoD is reporting the death of a sailor previously unreported by the military. Cdr. Job W. Price died from non-combat related injuries in Uruzgan Province on Saturday, December 22nd. News reports this is a possible suicide.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, December 24th.

Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said. The killing of the American, who worked as a contractor with the NATO command, was the first known insider attack by a woman in Afghanistan.

#2: In a separate incident, at least five local policemen were killed by another officer in northern Afghanistan. a local policeman killed at least five colleagues in the remote Khosh Tepa district in Jowzjan province. Afghan officials say the policeman escaped after the shooting and fled to join the Taliban, taking the weapons of his colleagues with him.  spokesman for the Taliban told the BBC the rogue policemen in Khosh Tepa had been a Taliban infiltrator for some time.

#3: Meanwhile, three Polish soldiers with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were wounded during a militant attack in the southern province of Ghazni, Warsaw said on Sunday. The soldiers injured on Saturday morning when their routine patrol came under attack in the southwestern part of the province, the Polish defence ministry said. A statement from the ministry said unidentified gunmen opened fire on the soldiers, wounding three of them. They were airlifted to a Ghazni City hospital, where they are being treated by Polish doctors.
#4: Five people were killed two separate security incidents in eastern Nangarhar and northern Faryab provinces, officials said on Sunday. A child, a driver and his assistant were killed in a militant attack on a logistic convoy of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Torkham-Jalalabad highway in Batikot district of Nangarhar province, the district chief, Mirza Mohammad Nasrat, told Pajhwok Afghan News. The attack was followed by a one-hour clash between the attackers and police, said witness Dr. Amin, who had no further details of the incident. A member of Junbish-i-Mili Islami party, Ghebullah, was killed along with his 22 years old son by unidentified gunmen in the Shirin Tagab district of northern Faryab province. Provincial police chief, Maj. Gen. Nabi Jan Mullahkhel, said the victim came under fire on his way home in Rahmatabad area on Saturday evening.

#5: A blast ripped through a school in Badakshan province on Monday, casualties feared, spokesman for provincial administration Abdul Marouf Rasikh said.


DoD: Cdr. Job W. Price

News of the Day for Sunday, December 23, 2012

Bakhtar news says local media report an attack on a NATO convoy on the highway between Kabul and Tourkham results in death of 3 NATO soldiers. However, there is no confirmation and no announcement from ISAF as of this posting.

Three Polish soldiers are injured in Ghazni.

Mine (or IED) kills one border guard and injures two in Nangarhar.

Fire destroys the cloth market in Kabul, reducing hundreds of shops to ashes. There is no indication of sabotage, but the event draws attention to poor fire safety in the capital.

The lower house of parliament rejects the governments 2013 budget, citing insufficient funds for the poorest provinces and lavish spending on the presidential palace. (You go! -- C)

President Karzai blames foreigners for corruption in Afghanistan. (No comment.)

We seem to be coming into this story in the middle, but apparently Pakistan has complained that its nationals have been tortured by Afghan forces. The victims were guest workers with valid documents. The Afghan Foreign Ministry says it is investigating.

Pakistan's top general Ashfaq Kayani is publicly committed to promoting peace in Afghanistan, fearing dangerous disorder when NATO troops depart. He is sending signals that Pakistan is no longer seeking to maintain influence through alliance with insurgents, but rather to try to live alongside a stable Afghanistan. (Lovely if true. -- C)

Paris peace conference concludes with parties making generally optimistic noises, however Taliban are demanding constitutional changes, which could be highly problematic. 

War News for Saturday, December 22, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: A driver and his helper were injured when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire on an Afghanistan-bound trailer in Wazirdhand area in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Friday, tribal sources said. The sources said the trailer (P-8279) was supplying goods to the Nato forces in Afghanistan when it came under attack. The driver Rustam Shah and his helper, whose identity could not be confirmed, were wounded in the attack.

#2: A relatively heavy explosion rocked eastern Ghanzi province of Afghanistan early Saturday morning. The incident took place in eastern Ghazni city after explosives packed in a cycle went off in old market area. Provincial governor spokesman Fazal Sabawon confirming the report said the main target of the explosion was an Afghan intelligence official. He confirmed at least two Afgan civilians along with an Afghan intelligence officer were injured following the blast.

War News for Friday, December 21, 2012

Statement of Defence Ministry of Georgia


Reported security incidents
#1: At least four people were killed and six others injured on Friday when a bomb blast rocked Pakistan 's northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan, local media reported. Eyewitness told media that the bomb exploded with a big bang as it killed four people on the spot including the militant commander and his two companions while injuring six others. Earlier reports said that three people were killed and 21 people injured in the blast in North Waziristan area but later security official told media that four people were killed and only six injured in South Waziristan.
#2: Five civilians and two policemen were killed when a bomb hit a police mobile in Zaranj, the provincial capital of southwestern Afghan Nimroz province, police said. "A police unit was on routine patrol in police district 3 of Zaranj city at about 3:30 p.m. (local time) when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detonated through a remote control device, killing two policemen and five civilians near the scene," police chief of the district Abdul Haq said. He said two policemen were also wounded in the attack and the police mobile was destroyed in the incident in the province 790 km southwest of Kabul.

#3: At least three persons were reportedly killed on Friday in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, an area bordering Afghanistan. According to officials, the unmanned aircraft fired two missiles on a house in Asukhel area of Mir Ali, killing three people on the spot and turning the house into debris.

#4: A suspected US unmanned drone crashed in Kaza Panga area of South Waziristan late on Thursday. According to the media reports, a drone was heard in the area buzzing above in the skies when it crashed with a loud bang which was followed by silence.

War News for Thursday, December 21, 2012

Troops gone, U.S. increasingly sidelined in Iraq

U.N. Halts Vaccine Work in Pakistan After 2 More Killings

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of December 18, 2012 - This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 56,865, including both units and individual augmentees.


Reported security incidents
#1: A serviceman from the Georgian peacekeeping contingent went missing in Afghanistan, the Georgian Defence Ministry said on Thursday. According to the report, no one has seen him since Dec.19. The Defence Ministry reported that the serviceman went missing under mysterious circumstances. At present, the International Security Assistance Force is holding an operation to rescue him.

#2: Afghan army and the NATO-led coalition forces have killed three insurgents and detained several suspects during operations across the country, as the joint forces continue to press the militants, the coalition said Thursday. “An Afghan and coalition security force killed Taliban leader, Mahjur, along with one other insurgent, during a security operation in Nari district, Kunar province, Wednesday,” the coalition or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement. In addition, one insurgent was killed and one was detained in a separate operation in Alingar district in Laghman province 90 km east of Kabul on Wednesday, the statement added.

#3: Five civilians and two policemen were killed Thursday afternoon when a bomb hit a police mobile in Zaranj, the provincial capital of southwestern Afghan Nimroz province, police said. "A police unit was on routine patrol in police district 3 of Zaranj city at about 3:30 p.m. (local time) when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detonated through a remote control device, killing two policemen and five civilians near the scene," police chief of the district Abdul Haq told Xinhua. He said two policemen were also wounded in the attack and the police mobile was destroyed in the incident in the province 790 km southwest of Kabul.

War News for Wednesday, December 19, 2012

UK to withdraw 3,800 troops from Afghanistan during 2013


Reported security incidents
#1:  Four Afghan policemen were shot dead and three wounded after being poisoned by a colleague in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said. The attack happened in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province and is the latest in a series of insider attacks by Afghan security forces on their local and foreign colleagues. "There were eight border police in Shero area check post, one of them poisoned the others' food and then shot them," provincial spokesman Jawid Faysal told.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a woman working on UN-backed polio vaccination efforts and her driver in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, just a day after similar attacks across the country killed five female polio workers. In Wednesday's attack, the woman and her driver were gunned down in the northwestern town of Charsadda, said senior government official Syed Zafar Ali Shah. He said gunmen targeted two other polio teams in the same town, but no one was wounded in those attacks. Earlier in the day in the northwestern city of Peshawar, gunmen shot a polio worker in the head, wounding him critically, said Janbaz Afridi, a senior health official. There were also attacks Wednesday on polio workers in the cities of Charsadda and Nowshera, but no casualties were reported there.

#3: Six Taliban militants were killed as their explosive device went off accidentally in Helmand province 555 km south of Kabul on Wednesday, spokesman for provincial administration Ahmad Zirak said. "A group of Taliban rebels were busy planting mine on a road in Gereshk district Wednesday morning but the device exploded accidentally, killing six insurgents including a group commander Mullah Mohammad Shah on the spot," Zirat told Xinhua.

War News for Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The DoD is reporting the death of a sailor previously unreported by the military. Lt. Leonard Robinson died from non-combat related injuries in Fayetteville, N.C., U.S. on Saturday, December 15th. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.


Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen killed five Pakistani women working on a U.N.-backed polio vaccination campaign in two different cities on Tuesday, officials said. The attacks were likely an attempt by the Taliban to counter an initiative the militant group has opposed. The attacks came a day after an unknown gunman killed a male volunteer for the World Health Organization’s anti-polio campaign in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. Four of the women killed Tuesday were gunned down in Karachi, said Sagheer Ahmed, the health minister for surrounding Sindh province. Two male workers were critically wounded in the shootings, said Ahmed, who wrongly reported earlier that one of them had died.

#2: Afghan police have killed seven Taliban insurgents in different provinces within one-day operations, as the security forces continue to press the militants, the country's Ministry of Interior said Tuesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) in partnership with the army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted nine cleanup operations in Kabul, Kunduz, Wardak, Logar, Khost and Helmand province over the past 24 hours, killing seven armed Taliban insurgents," the ministry said in a statement. Up to seven insurgent were wounded and four others detained by the ANP during the above raids, it added. In addition, three Taliban were killed when Afghan police and army responded to a Taliban attack against checkpoints in Duhab district in Nuristan province 180 km east of capital city of Kabul early Tuesday morning, provincial police chief Ghulam Ullah told Xinhua.

#3: At least eighteen persons including five security personnel were injured in a grenade attack that occurred on GT Road near PAF Engineering Centre Tuesday morning, security sources told. According to security forces, unknown attackers riding on two motorbikes hurled two hand grenades at main GT Road near PAF Engineering Centre gate no.3 that hurt ten persons, including five security men and five civilians. Sources told that many young men were present at the site as recruitment for PAF engineering wing was underway.

#4: At least three soldiers were killed and three others sustained injuries in clashes between security forces and extremists in Lakki Marwat, media quoted officials as saying on Monday. Dozens of insurgents armed with guns and rockets stormed a security checkpost in Lakki Marwat. Three soldiers were killed while three others, including a Major rank officer, were wounded in the attack. The wounded troops were shifted to military hospital. The security forces retaliated, however army did not give any information about the number of militants killed or injured in the exchange of fire.

#5: Unknown gunmen shot dead an employee of education and training department in the limits of Kandahar city, capital of Kandahar province, yesterday, education officials said Monday. The gunmen opened fire on Muhammad Mirwais, an employee of education directorate, in Loya Wayala area of the provincial capital and killed him, Sher Aqa Safi, director of Kandahar education and training department, told Afghan Islamic.

#6: A roadside bomb killed two police while a police officer was killed in a gun attack by Taliban in Kunar province, police said Monday. A police vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Wali Qala area on Asadabad road, limits of Sokair district, at approximately 1:00 p.m. (local time), Awaz Muhammad Naziri, police chief of Kunar province, told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). As a result, he said, two police were killed and another wounded. Meanwhile, a police officer was killed after Taliban gunmen attacked combined force in the limits of Marawara district, Naziri said. He said the combined troops were on way to Asadabad from Marawara when came under attack, adding a police officer was injured in the attack and later succumbed to wounds.

#7: According to local authorities in eastern Nuristan province of Afghanistan, heavy clashes are continuing between Afghan security forces and armed militants in Du-Aab district. The officials further added the clashes started late Monday evening and militants are still resisting Afgan security forces. Provincial securit chief Ghulamullah Nurstaini confirming the report said at least 3 militants have been killed following the clashes. He urged the central government to assist Afghan security forces fighting the militants in order to end the clashes. In the meantime a spokesman for the Taliban group said several Afghan security forces have been killed or wounded during clashes with the Taliban fighters.


DoD: Lt. Leonard Robinson

War News for Monday, December 17, 2012

The DoD is reporting the death of a soldier previously unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Kevin E. Lipari died from unreported reasons in Logar province, Afghanistan on Friday, December 14th.

 

The DoD is reporting another death of a soldier previously unreported by the military. Staff Sgt. Nicholas J. Reid died in the Landstuhl medical hospital, Germany on Thursday, December 13th. He was wounded in an IED blast in Sperwan Village, Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, December 9th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Three civilians were injured Monday in a bomb blast in Afghan northern city of Kunduz, 260 km north of Kabul, police said. "It was a remote-controlled bomb designed to target local police officer Abdul Shakor but targeted a civilian car at 03:30 p. m. local time. The bombing badly wounded three commuters including a man, a woman and a child," police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told Xinhua.

#2: A car bomb exploded outside of a compound housing a U.S. military contractor in the Afghan capital Monday, blowing apart an exterior wall and wounding dozens inside, company representatives and police said. The blast on the outskirts of Kabul sent a plume of smoke up in the air and shook windows more than a mile (two kilometers) away in the city center. The security officer for Contrack, a McLean, Va.-based company that builds facilities for military bases, said a suicide attacker drove a vehicle packed with explosives up to the exterior wall of the compound and detonated the bomb. Afghan police said they could not confirm if it was a suicide attack or a remotely detonated bomb that had been placed in a parked vehicle. Deputy Interior Ministry spokesman Najibullah Danish said that at least one person was killed in the attack. It was not immediately clear if this could have been the attacker. Contrack security officer Baryalai, who like many Afghans only goes by one name, said he could only confirm wounded. He said the injured employees included Americans, Afghans and South Africans. An American official of the company was seriously wounded, he said.

Five foreigners including Americans and South Africans were among the wounded, a security source at the company told AFP.

#3: Police said they believed that the device was an unexploded mine that had been laid years ago and was triggered somehow as the girls walked through the open field. At least one other old mine was found nearby, provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal said. He also noted that the blast did not occur next to a road or any obvious target. The girls who died ranged in age from 9 to 13 years old and all came from different families in Dawlatzai village, said Mohammad Seddiq, the government administrator Nangarhar province's Chaperhar district, which includes the village. Two more girls were seriously wounded and are in critical condition at a hospital, Seddiq said. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone from the site of the blast.

#4: A blast in a market in northwest Pakistan on Monday killed at least 15 people, a security official said. The official said at least 20 people had been wounded in the blast in the market in the Khyber region, near the border with Afghanistan, and the death toll could rise. The attack occurred near the office of a senior government official but it was unclear if he was the target of the attack, the news channels reported.

#5: Hungarian troops have come under attack in Khilagay, Baghlan province, north Afghanistan, the defence ministry told MTI on Saturday. No service personnel were hurt in the attack, the ministry said in a statement. The statement said that 21 members of the Hungarian-US Military Advisory Team (MAT) and two companies of the Afghan National Army (ANA) were caught up in the attack. Under fire, the MAT called in air support. In the run-up to the attack on Friday night, the MAT camp came under rocket fire. During an assessment of the damage, members of the team and their Afghan colleagues came under attack.

#6: At least four people including one official and three policemen were killed in two separate firing incidents in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Monday morning, reported local media Samaa. According to the report, the killed official is Khadim Hussain, Director of Public Relations of Balochistan Province with Quetta as its capital. He got killed outside a district court in the city. In another incident, unknown gunmen coming in on motorbikes opened fire at a police vehicle near a taxi stand in the Liaquat Park area of the city, leaving three cops dead. The killed include an inspector and a sub-inspector, said the report.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Nelson D. Trent

DoD: Sgt. Michael J. Guillory

DoD: Staff Sgt. Nicholas J. Reid

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Kevin E. Lipari

News of the Day for Sunday, December 16, 2012

Afghan Director of Intelligence Asadullah Khalid is admitted to a hospital in the U.S., after being injured in a suicide attack 10 days ago. He had been treated at the ISAF hospital at Bagram. There is no specific information about his condition.

A provincial official says 11 militants are killed  in a battle in Kandahar province. The statement says there were no government casualties. The announcement does not state that ISAF forces were involved.

Iran complains to the Afghan government  about the Dec. 11 mob attack on its consulate in Herat. The attackers were protesting what they claim is the slaying of Afghan economic refugees by Iran.

President Karzai acknowledges the inadequacy of health care regulation in the country. Many private hospitals are operating incompetently.

ISAF forces arrest a man accused of involvement in the Dec. 2 attack on the Jalalabad air base.

 Meanwhile, south of the border, an attack on an airfield in Peshawar, Pakistan appears to largely fail, resulting in the death of 4 or 5 attackers.

Large shipments of gold out of Afghanistan are prompting suspicion of money laundering. (Well duhh.)

Editors note: On March 11 of this year, a U.S. soldier massacred 16 people, including many children, in Kandahar. This event was an item in the news among many others. It provoked no special coverage, no candlelight vigils or church services, or any other out of the ordinary response in the United States. Earlier (I'm not going to track down the date) U.S. forces killed Afghan children who were gathering firewood on a hill side; and innumerable Afghan children have died from bombings and crossfire from all sides in the Afghan conflict. I won't even talk about Iraq. Recently, Israeli bombing killed something like 100 Palestinian civilians, including children, in Gaza. Apart from actions by the U.S. and its allies, children are dying violently by the dozens every day, right now, in Syria, Congo, Sudan, and elsewhere. We barely notice. So, I'm noticing.

War News for Saturday, December 15, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of a USFOR-A soldier from non-combat related injuries in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, December 14th.

Last French combat troops quit Afghanistan

Karzai wants NATO forces to leave Afghan villages

Soldier killed at Fort Hood after firing at officers


Reported security incidents
#1: Unknown armed men opened fire and set ablaze an oil tanker in Baghlan province 160 km north of Kabul on Saturday, police said. “Unidentified armed men targeted an oil tanker with assault rifle in Dushi district today morning burning the oil tanker,” Deputy to provincial police chief Sayed Zaman Hussaini told Xinhua.

#2: Five Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were killed in different areas of country over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday. Four soldiers were killed in the Bala Baluk district of western Farah province and one in the Kajaki district of southern Helmand, a statement from the ministry said. At least one soldier was wounded in the Zherai district of southern Kandahar province. The causalities resulted from a roadside bombing and militant attacks.

#3: Taliban and police claimed inflicting casualties on each other after a clash in Doaab district of Nuristan province Friday. Taliban attacked two police check posts near the headquarters of Doaab district before noon, killing a police commander, Faqir, and wounding two more cops, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Afghan Islamic Press. He said Taliban captured the posts and took with them eight arms and ammunition. Provincial police chief Ghulamullah Nuristani confirmed the attack to AIP but said only two cops were wounded during the clash. He said police returned fire, killing three Taliban, adding no check post fell to Taliban.

War News for Friday, December 14, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, December 14th. News reports that a suicide car bomber rammed a NATO convoy outside a base in Khandar province on Thursday night killing between one and three Americans and killing and wounding multiple Afghani’s.


Reported security incidents
#1: A US soldier has been killed in a suicide bomb attack at a Nato airbase outside the Afghan city of Kandahar. Two Afghan civilians also died in the blast and more than 10 other people, including three US soldiers, were wounded. Local police officers said a car packed with explosives was detonated beside Nato vehicles entering the base.

#2: One insurgent has been killed and six insurgents detained in different operations in eastern Afghan provinces, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Friday. "Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent, detained six, and cleared one improvised explosive device (IED) during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East (RC-East) said in a statement. The Afghan National Army soldiers killed one insurgent during an engagement in Bar Kunar (Asmar) District in eastern Kunar province 185 km east of Kabul, the statement said. The captured militants were detained by the Afghan and coalition forces following an engagement in Bati Kot District, Nangarhar province,120 km east of Kabul, it said, adding that the detained suspects were transferred to a base for questioning.
#3: Eight persons including a security man were wounded when a blast occurred at Sariab Road in Quetta Friday, FP News desk reported. According to initial reports, the explosives were fixed in a bicycle that exploded near a security forces’ vehicle, injuring eight persons including a troop.

War News for Thursday, December 13, 2012

Swedish woman shot in Lahore passes away in Sweden

NATO scales back joint Afghan operations


Reported security incidents
#1: A police constable was killed in a firing incident in the city’s suburban area. According to police, constable Riaz, a resident of Multan, was on security duty at gate-1 of Chohang Training School, when armed motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire and fled away.

#2: A driver was killed and two police officers wounded as their vehicle come under fire from unidentified gunmen in Belandab district of southern Herat province, an official said Thursday.

#3: Unknown gunmen carried out armed attack on a senior security official in western Herat province of Afghanistan early Thursday morning. Ali Ahmad Dashti a local security official in western Herat province of Afghanistan said Gen. Abdul Rasheed operational chief for 606 Ansar security commandment in western Afghanistan was ambushed by unknown gunmen. Mr. Dashti said the attack took place while Mr. Rasheed was on his way towards his office. He said the assailant militants also started armed clashes with the security guards of Mr. Rasheed near his house, killing one of his guards. The assailant militants reportedly escaped from the area after the clashes. No group including the Taliban militants has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack.

War News for Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: Two people were killed in separate incidents of violence that occurred in Mohmand and Khyber Agency. In Mohmand Agency, the incident took place when unidentified armed men attacked at a man associated with Peace Committee with hand grenade in Manzari Cheena area of Bai Zai tehseel, resultantly the person died on the spot. In Khyber Agency, a bomb exploded at Ghandi area of Jamrud tehseel, damaging a house. Meanwhile, A body was found near Takhta Beg Check Post.

#2: Units of Afghan police have killed nine Taliban militants and injured eight others during series of operations over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Wednesday. The operations, according to the statement were conducted in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kapisa, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Nimroz provinces during which six more insurgents made captive. There were no casualties on police side, the statement asserted. Taliban militants are yet to comment.

#3: According to reports a NATO-led International Coalition Security Forces drone crashed in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan on Wednesday. The incident took place in Nava district early Wednesday.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Wesley R. Williams

War News for Tuesday, December 11, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, December 10th.


Pentagon Says Afghan Forces Still Need Assistance


Reported security incidents
#1: Up to seven insurgents have been killed and eight others detained in military operations in eastern Afghan region in a 24-hour time, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Tuesday. "Afghan and coalition forces killed seven insurgents, detained eight, and cleared one improvised explosive device (IED) during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East (RC-East) said in a statement. Afghan Border Police killed seven insurgents during an engagement in Barge-E Matal district, Nuristan province 180 km east of Kabul, it said.

#2: Two mine planters killed in Kandahar province yesterday. According to national defense ministry press office, two armed militants wanted to place a mine in the outskirts of Zheri district of that province, the mine exploded and killed them. According to another report, an armed militant wanted to place a mine in the vicinities of Khost province; the mine exploded and killed him.

#3: Afghan security forces launched a major military operation and evicted Taliban insurgents from Dishu district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand and established government control there, the provincial administration said Tuesday. "The Afghan national police, border police and army carried out a six-day military operation ending on Monday recapturing the Dishu district," the government said in a statement. The Dishu district had been ruled by Taliban for the past nine years. During the operation three policemen were killed and one sustained injuries, said Hamidullah Siddiqi, a senior border police commander in Helmand. More than 600 Afghan security forces took part in the operation in the district about 100 km south of provincial capital Lashkar Gah.


DoD: Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas D. Checque

War News for Monday, December 10, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an USFOR-A soldier from unreported reasons in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, December 9th. News and the DoD reports that a navy seal was killed during the rescue operation of an American doctor.


Reported security incidents
#1: Also Monday morning, gunmen shot and killed the head of the women's affairs department for the eastern Laghman province, said Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government. Nadia Sediqi was on her way to the office from her home on the outskirts of the provincial capital when she was attacked, Zewak said. She had taken the job after her predecessor, Anifa Safi, died in a bomb attack in July.

#2: A roadside bomb killed the police chief of Afghanistan's western Nimroz province on Monday, a police official said. General Mohammad Musa Rasoli's vehicle was struck by the bomb as he was heading to work, the official said.

#3: At least six people are reported to have been killed in a militant attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan. Officials are quoted as saying the dead from the attack on the Kaki station, near Bannu, include three police officers, as well as civilians. RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reports that the attack included two suicide bombers and militants throwing hand grenades.

Militants on Monday morning attacked a police station located on the outskirt of Bannu city where at least nine persons including three policemen and an Army soldier were killed, FP News desk reported. Militants besieged the police station with hand grenades and then opened fire that killed five persons who had come out of the mosque after offering prayers. The violent exchange of fire continued for at least one and a half hour in which seven security men were injured including an SHO. An Army soldier, Rahimullah also embraced martyrdom during the combat with militants. Police told that four suicide attackers blew themselves when they were surrounded by the additional contingents of security forces that were called in from the Bannu city. One suicide attacker aged 12 managed to flee from the scene.

#4: A Swedish charity worker who was critically wounded in a gun attack in Lahore last week was flown home on Monday for specialist medical treatment, officials said. Bargeeta Almby, 72, was coming home from work when she was shot in the chest. She was working in Lahore for the US-founded Full Gospel Assemblies, which describes itself as a "church fellowship" with congregations all over the world. "She was still unconscious, her condition is critical, she is on a ventilator," said Fazlur Rehman, chief doctor at Jinnah Hospital

#5: At least four persons were injured in a blast that targeted the venue of Awami National Party (ANP) rally on Monday, FP News desk reported. According to police, a hand grenade was hurled near the ANP rally venue in the parking area where the party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan was scheduled to address, but fortunately he had not arrived at the venue at the time of blast. Resultantly, four persons were injured who were shifted to the hospital for treatment.

#6: Separately, five armed militants were killed and five were wounded in a clash in Nangarhar province, 120 km east of Kabul, on Sunday afternoon. "The clash took place when a group of special-counter narcotics police forces launched a poppy opium eradication campaign in Khogyani district Sunday afternoon," spokesman for the governor, Ahmad Zia Abdul Zai, told Xinhua on Monday. He said additional forces arrived in the area shortly after the fighting.

News of the Day for Sunday, December 9, 2012

U.S. forces rescue Dr. Dilip Joseph, an American who was kidnapped in Surobi, Kabul province on December 5. They kill 7 of his Taliban captors in the action. He was being held in nearby Laghman province. Further details of the operation will be announced later today.

Two civilians are killed and 2 injured by a roadside bomb in Ghorak, Kandahar province.

Members of a nomadic tribe clash with police in Kabul. Despite gunfire, there are no reports of injuries. This apparently has to do with their attempting to build houses.

A Pakistani government spokesmen rejects Hamid Karzai's accusation that the assassination attempt against Afghan spy chief Asadullah Khalid on Thursday was planned in Quetta. Khalid survived with serious injuries to his lower extremities when a suicide bomber infiltrated the National Directorate of Security in Kabul.

The Governor of Kapisa province denies reports that a polio eradication worker was assassinated last week, saying the woman was killed accidentally in a crossfire. He also disputes her reported age and says she was not working on the polio campaign.

Khaama's Ahmad Masoud reports that thousands of Afghans are injured by low quality gas cylinders and cookers every year, and that hundreds die. "Afghanistan imports gas cylinders from neighbouring countries and there are various brands of imported and domestically-made pressure cookers available in markets. Most people cannot afford to buy high-quality pressure cookers or gas cylinders; therefore, they go for the cheaper ones. There have been reports that petrol mixed with diesel has been sold as kerosene which is widely used in kerosene lamp and stoves. It is often the cause of fire."

A U.S. drone strike kills 3 people in North Waziristan.

Protesters attack the Iranian consulate in Herat, in the continued dispute over the execution of 13 Afghan teenagers in Iran. The Iranians say they were drug smugglers, but their relatives say they were merely looking for work.

Turkish president Abdullah Gul will host a summit between Hamid Karzai and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday and Wednesday, in an attempt to reduce simmering tensions between the two countries. In particular, Karzai has long accused Pakistan of harboring militants who carry out attacks in Afghanistan. (He makes that accusation because it is true.)

War News for Saturday, December 08, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb exploded near an Afghan army patrol Saturday in the country's eastern Khost province, killing two civilians and wounding nine others, a statement issued by the provincial government said. "A bomb went off near an army unit patrolling in the main bazaar in Bak district at around 12:08 p.m. local time, killing two innocent civilians and injuring five civilians and four army personnel," the statement said blaming Taliban insurgent for the attack in the province 150 km southeast of capital Kabul bordering Pakistan.

#2: According to local authorities in eastern Khost provnce of Afghanistan, Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of NATO-led coalition security forces in this province. Gen. Abdul Qayoum Baqi provincial security chief confirming the report said the incident took place in western part of Khost province. He did not disclose further information regarding the incident.

War News for Friday, December 07, 2012

After ISAF attack on clinic: SCA seeks respect for the sanctity of health facilities -- Why the hell we are raiding the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan is beyond me -- whisker


Reported security incidents

War News for Thursday, December 06, 2012

Taliban gain access to modern weapons in Nuristan


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghanistan's intelligence chief has been wounded in an assassination attempt in the capital, Kabul, Afghan officials say. A senior government official said Asadullah Khalid suffered injuries on the lower part of his body when a bomb exploded at the intelligence chief's guest house as he was receiving a visitor. The house is used for private meetings that Khalid doesn't want to hold at the official compound of the National Directorate of Intelligence, the official said.

#2: A U.S. drone fired a pair of missiles at a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region near the Afghan border Thursday, killing three suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike hit Mubarak Shahi village in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan, said the intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

#3: Up to 10 insurgents have been captured in operations in eastern Afghan provinces, as part of increased campaign against insurgents, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces said Wednesday. The detained insurgents were captured in Paktika province 155 km south of capital Kabul, according to the statement.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, dozens of weapons and huge amount of ammunition were stolen by an employee working in arms depot in this province.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class. Darren M. Linde

DoD: Spc. Tyler J. Orgaard

War News for Wednesday, December 05, 2012

This is our 2500th post since March of 2007 when we started up the new blog. Where the hell did the last 5 years go. Perhaps it’s time just to end the project. – whisker

Two North Dakota Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan -- 41-year-old Sergeant First Class Darren Linde of Devils Lake and 20-year-old Specialist Tyler Orgaard of Bismarck, were killed in action. --  23-year-old specialist Ian Placek also of Bismarck was wounded in the attack and is listed in stable condition in Germany.

Fort Leonard Wood honors dog killed in action in Afghanistan -- Tygo was killed Nov. 10 by an improvised explosive device.

Four Afghan boys 'shot by British while drinking tea'

Nearly 83,000 Afghan refugees return home from Pakistan this year

Reported security incidents
#1: Two soldiers were killed early Wednesday by a pair of suicide bombers who detonated their car when they were stopped from entering an army base, Pakistan's military said. The car exploded outside the Zarai Noor Camp, in Wana, South Waziristan, after it was signaled to a halt by soldiers, a military statement said. "The sentries on duty spotted the suicide bomber at least 100 meters from the camp. Both suicide bombers were blown up in the explosive-laden car," it said. Two security forces personnel were killed and four more injured by the blast. The attack took place in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal region along the Afghanistan border, a stronghold of the Pakistan Taliban.

#2: A Pakistan Army soldier was killed in cross-border firing from Afghanistan in Mohmand Agency, media reports quoted officials as saying on Tuesday. Reports said troops from Afghanistan resorted to unprovoked firing at Sheikh Baba check post in the border area of Mohmand Agency, which left a troop dead. The cross-border firing stopped after retaliation by Pakistani troops, officials said. Security officials said it could not be confirmed if the attack was launched by Afghan National Army or the Afghan Taliban.

#3: Two people were killed and three others wounded, including a brother of Balochistan finance minister, in separate firing incidents in Balochistan on Tuesday. An explosion also occurred in a Frontier Corps camp in Turbat. According to police, unidentified armed men opened indiscriminate fire on Muhammad Asif, the brother of Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd Gailo, in Panjgour town. Asif sustained serious wounds and was rushed to a nearby hospital for medical aid. The assailants fled from the scene after committing the crime. In another incident, unidentified men killed a driver and wounded two others in Qila Saifullah. Levies sources said that armed men opened indiscriminate fire on workers of a road construction company in Kanchogi area in Muslim Bagh tehsil. Resultantly, bulldozer driver Muhammad Khalid died on the spot and Qari and Muhammad Faisal were seriously wounded. In Quetta, police recovered a body from Essa Nagri Brewery Road and shifted it to hospital for autopsy. However, identity of the deceased could not be ascertained.

#4: The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) killed three insurgents after being ambushed near Tana Village, Chamkani District, Paktiya Province, Dec. 3. The patrol was pinned down by small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire. After ensuring the area was clear of civilians, the area was clear of civilians, the joint patrol called for air support killing three insurgents. The patrol was able to clear the remainder of the route to their compound, and ensure the area was free of insurgent activity.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Anthony J. Denier

War News for Tuesday, December 04, 2012

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, December 3rd.


Reported security incidents
#1: Three Taliban militants have been killed and nine others detained in different operations across Afghanistan within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) supporting by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched eight joint cleanup operations in Faryab, Badakhshan, Balkh, Kandahar, Zabul, Logar, Ghazni and Helmand provinces, killing three armed Taliban insurgents and detaining nine other suspects over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement. The ANP also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.
#2: A suicide bomber targeted a police station located in Bannu area, leaving eight people, including women, children and police officials injured in the wee hours of Tuesday, police said. According to the police, the incident took place when a bomber driving an explosive-laden vehicle ripped through the Habib police station leaving eight people injured.