War News for Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Seven civilians were killed aboard a U.S.-contracted cargo plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from Bagram air field in Afghanistan on Monday, according to the international military coalition. The cause of the crash has not been determined, Capt. Dan Einert, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, told The Times Tuesday morning. Einert said there was no indication of enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash.

Five of seven people killed in the crash of a civilian plane at an airfield in Afghanistan were from Michigan, an official of a Florida-based air cargo company said Monday night. The plane crashed just after taking off Monday from Bagram Air Field, north of the Afghan capital. The U.S.-led military coalition said it was investigating what caused the crash. The Boeing 747-400 was carrying vehicles and other cargo, according to an official of Orlando, Fla.-based National Airlines. Those killed were four pilots, two mechanics and a load master, who is responsible for making sure that the weight and balance of the cargo is appropriate, said company Vice President Shirley Kaufman.

#2: Eight Taliban militants were killed and two others made captive as fighting flared up late Sunday in Kohsan district of Afghanistan's Herat province, 640 km west of Kabul, provincial police chief Rahmatullah Safi said Monday. "Units of police launched operations against Taliban militants in Kohsan district late Sunday night. The operations lasted for few hours during which eight rebels had been killed and two others were captured,"Safi told Xinhua.

#3: Five Afghan police were killed after Taliban militants stormed a checkpoint of Border Police Force in Badghis Province 555 km northwest of Kabul late Sunday night, spokesman of provincial administration Sharafudin Majidi confirmed Monday. "The Taliban rebels attacked a checkpoint of Border Police Force in Balamurghab district late last night, leaving five policemen dead," Majidi told Xinhua. Another policeman was injured in the offensive, he added. Some Taliban militants were also killed in the firefight, the official said, but he did not give an exact figure.

War News for Monday, April 29, 2013

27-year-old Mumbai engineer goes missing in Pakistan

CIA delivers cash to Afghan president's office

Army deployment begins in Balochistan

Car bomb blasts kill 18 in Iraqi Shi'ite provinces


Reported security incidents
#1: Unknown gunmen attacked two NATO oil tankers in Pakistan's Northwestern tribal area of Khyber Agency. Officials and local sources told press tv that armed men opened fire on the oil tankers in the areas of Shahkas and Wazirdand of Jamrud Tehsil in Khyber on Sunday. The drivers of the vehicles were killed in the attack.

#2: Attack targeting official in northwestern city of Peshawar leaves eight people dead and dozens injured, police say. At least eight people, including the son of an influential Afghan cleric, have been killed and 45 others wounded after a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a bus in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, police say. Qari Hilal, the son of cleric Qazi Amin Waqad, died in Monday's suicide bombing which appeared to have targeted Sahibzada Anees, a senior official in the city administration.

#3: Insurgents killed three police officers in Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said, in an attack that the Taliban claimed marked the start of their annual "spring offensive".A roadside bomb blast in the restive central province of Ghazni targeted a police convoy that was travelling to the scene of a Taliban attack in Zana Khan district.

#4: Thirty-seven Taliban militants have been killed in deferent operations within the last 24 hours across Afghanistan, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday morning. "The Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni and Paktika provinces, killing 37 armed Taliban over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement. Up to 13 militants were wounded and 11 were detained by ANP, the statement said, adding the ANP also found and seized weapons and explosive during the raids.

#5: Three Afghan policemen died overnight when Taliban militants launched attack on a checkpoint in northern Jawzjan province, a provincial police source said Monday. "Three Afghan National Police (ANP) cops were martyred and five ANP personnel were missing as Taliban raided a checkpoint in Qush Tipa district Sunday night," Abdul Manan Raoufi, a provincial police official, told Xinhua.


DoD: Capt. Brandon L. Cyr

DoD: Capt. Reid K. Nishizuka

DoD: Staff Sgt. Richard A. Dickson

DoD: Staff Sgt. Daniel N. Fannin

News of the Day for Sunday, April 28, 2013

NATO fixed wing craft crashes in southern Afghanistan, killing 4. ISAF confirms the incident but has released almost no information. The nationality of the dead, and even whether they were military, has not been publicly revealed as of this writing. Xinhua reports the crash occurred in Jamal Khil area of Shah Joe district in southern Zabul province at around 3 p.m. local time Saturday. Most foreign forces in that area are U.S. Khaama says the craft was a helicopter. Whatever.

Roadside bomb kills deputy security chief for Ghazni Mohammad Hussain Adil and two of his bodyguards. He was responding to reports that the district had fallen under Taliban control.

Taliban announce start of a spring offensive, warns civilians to stay away from foreign military assets and other potential targets. The above attack is said to mark the beginning.

Departing French ambassador to Afghanistan offers a grim assessment. In remarks at a farewell party, Bernard Bajolet, says that barring huge changes, the western investment in the Afghan government will be squandered. NYT's Alissa J. Rubin explicitly contrasts his remarks to more upbeat assessments from U.S. officials. Excerpt:

Mr. Bajolet wound up his realpolitik with a brisk analysis of what Afghanistan’s government needed to do: cut corruption, which discourages investment, deal with drugs and become fiscally self-reliant. It must increase its revenues instead of letting politicians divert them, he said. Several diplomats in the room could be seen nodding as he said that drugs caused “more casualties than terrorism” in Russia, Europe and the Balkans and that Western governments would be hard-put to make the case for continued spending on Afghanistan if it remains the world’s largest heroin supplier. . .  “We should be lucid: a country that depends almost entirely on the international community for the salaries of its soldiers and policemen, for most of its investments and partly on it for its current civil expenditure, cannot be really independent.”

Taliban release ten deminers they had held for one week in southern Kandahar. The prisoners had been "badly beaten" but there is no word of ransom.

A hailstorm damages about 50 NATO helicopters on April 23 at Kandahar airfield. (That must have been mighty impressive. -- C)

Iraq Update: As sectarian tensions and unrest in predominantly Sunni regions rise, the Iraqi government has suspended the licenses of 10 TV channels, including al Jazeera, and Sharqiya. President Maliki ascribes the growing conflict to spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria. The crisis has been exacerbated by the death of 5 soldiers near Ramadi.

 

War News for Saturday, April 27, 2013

Taliban announce start of spring offensive, signaling plans for more attacks

Afghan troops hold their ground at high cost

NATO admits Afghan children killed in Kapisa

Hailstorm damage 50 NATO helicopters in southern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Some unknown miscreants tore down 30-inch diameter gas pipeline running from Sui to Punjab near here, severing supplies to several areas of the province, FP News desk reported Saturday morning. Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNPL) said that gas supply to CNG stations in many cities/towns including Lahore, Sahiwal, Sheikhupura, Multan, Gojranawala and Gujrat of the province of Punjab has been suspended due to the busted gas pipeline.

#2: Taliban kidnapped five workers of an international non-governmental organisation (INGO), including, a Pakistani national in western Herat province, police sources said on Friday. Abdul Hamid Hamidi, security chief of the western Herat province told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that Taliban gunmen seized three employees of Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees (DACAAR) in the limits of Kohsan district. He identified the kidnapped persons as one Pakistani engineer, an Afghan engineer and their driver.

#3: An explosion in Karachi, Pakistan, killed at least eight people and injured more than 20, Karachi authorities said late Friday. The target of the blast, according to Salim Abbasi, a Karachi police official, was a meeting the the Awami National Party, an anti-Taliban liberal political party. "It's unclear what caused the blast," said police spokesman Naeem Shah. Emergency personnel were on the scene of the explosion on Karachi's west side and an investigation was under way, he added.


DoD: Capt. Aaron R. Blanchard

DoD: 1st Lt. Robert J. Hess

War News for Friday, April 26 2013

Former Selah resident killed in action in Afghanistan - Aaron Blanchard, a 32-year-old Army captain and former Selah resident, was killed by enemy fire Tuesday in Afghanistan. He had been stationed at a forward operating base when it was struck by missile fire, killing him and another soldier, his mother, Laura Schactler of Selah, said Thursday. No details have been released by the military.

Afghanistan: 30 or more killed after bus crashes into fuel tanker between Kandahar and Helmand provinces

Wave of violence kills more than 180 in Iraq

 

Reported security incidents
#1: In Bannu’s Tana area, bomb disposal squad personnel defused a three-kilogram explosive device. Moreover, town municipal authority personnel discovered a bomb in the Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda. The BDS was immediately sought after the discovery of the explosive device.

The police on Friday foiled a major terrorism bid as it seized and defused five bombs in Karak. According to Karak DPO Attiqullah Wazir, the police launched a search operation in Barbara area, bordering Kohat district where two police officials had been killed in a clash with militants. Six militants had also died in the attack. During the search operation, five bombs weighing 50 kilograms were seized which were later defused by the bomb disposal squad (BDS).

#2: In another incident, militants killed a man in Mohmand’s Halimzai area for allegedly supporting the pro-government peace committee in the region.

#3: At least 6 Afghan local police officers were shot dead in a suspected insider attack in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan on Thursday night. According to local authorities in Takhar province, the incident took place after the local police officers including thier commander were poisoned and shot dead.

War News for Thursday, April 25, 2013

At least 10 Iraq policemen killed in clashes with militants-sources


Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani police officials say several people were killed when militants attacked a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, which borders on Afghanistan. The officials say the attack on the station in the Karak district began late on April 24. An official at the Dawood hah Tehsil police station told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that four militants and two policemen were killed in the clash. The official, Nasir Khan, said fighting is still under way.

#2: A man was killed on Thursday while three others were injured when a blast occurred in Parachinar area after a tractor trolley collided with an improvised explosive device (IED) fixed on the road. According to reports‚ a tractor trolley hit an IED along the road that caused the blast. Resultantly‚ one man was killed while three others were wounded. They were shifted to Parachinar hospital for treatment.

#3: In addition, four Taliban militants were killed and one was wounded when the IEDs they were placing along two roads in eastern Laghman province detonated prematurely overnight, the provincial government said in a statement.

War News for Wednesday, April 24, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan on the rise

Afghan officials say at least 13 killed in northern flooding

Dozens Killed in Battles Across Iraq as Sunnis Escalate Protests Against Government

Iraqi Sunni mosque attacked, at least 6 killed


Reported security incidents
#1: NATO says 13 insurgents have been killed in joint operations in eastern Afghanistan. NATO's eastern command said on Wednesday that the insurgents were killed in operations that began on Tuesday. The coalition says Afghan and coalition forces killed six insurgents during a joint operation in Tagab district of Kapisa province, and seven others were killed in a separate operation run by Afghan security forces in the Hisarak district of Nangarhar province.

#2: Four children from the same family died Tuesday and another child was wounded when a bomb they were playing with exploded in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, an official told EFE. The incident occurred about 2 p.m. in the Raskai zone of Marouf district, a spokesman for the regional government, Javed Faisal, said.

#3-5: The country appears to have no respite from terrorism as nine more people were dead and dozens injured in fresh spate of bombings in Karachi and Quetta on Tuesday.

#3: Three people were killed and two dozen others wounded in a blast near the election office of MQM at People’s Chowrangi. MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned the incident and directed the coordination committee to close down the party election offices and called strike in Karachi today.

#4: Tuesday, killing six people and wounding more than 30, officials said. The attacker had attempted to drive his vehicle into Hazara Town, city police chief Zubair Mahmood said. “He detonated the vehicle when the soldiers at a paramilitary check post near the Shia neighbourhood stopped it,” the police officer said.

#5: Three blasts were also reported in the Balochistan capital in which no loss of life was reported. Earlier, three blasts occurred at different places in Quetta injuring several people.

#6: Gunmen have kidnapped nine deminers in Afghanistan's restive southern province of Kandahar, officials said on Tuesday. The men, all Afghans, were being driven back from a minefield Monday when they were seized in Maiwand district, provincial spokesman Jawid Faisal told AFP.

War News for Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The DoD is reporting a new death prevesously unreported by the military. Pfc. Barrett L. Austin presumably died at Landsthul ,military hospital, Landstuhl, Germany on Sunday, April 21st. He was wounded in a roadside bombing attack somewhere in in Wardak Province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 17th.


At least 26 killed as Iraqi forces raid Sunni protest camp


Reported security incidents
#1: Sixteen youths harvesting opium poppies in Helmand Province were killed recently, Pajhwok Afghan News reported April 21. The victims came from two districts in Ghazni Province, Qarabagh District Chief Fazal Rahman Nazarwal told Pajhwok. They came under militant attack, he said. The victims were buried April 20, he said. Eight of them were killed April 19, Qarabagh resident Abdul Bari told Pajhwok. Details about when the others died were not available.

#2: Gunmen have kidnapped nine deminers in Afghanistan’s restive southern province of Kandahar, officials said Tuesday. The men, all Afghans, were being driven back from a minefield Monday when they were seized in Maiwand district, provincial spokesman Jawid Faisal told AFP. “They had just finished their work in the area and were riding in two cars when they were taken by a group of gunmen,” he said.

#3: Local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan once again informed of continued cross-border shelling from Pakistani soil in this province. The officials further added that at least 24 missiles were fired in Dangam district during the past 24 hours. Provincial governor Fazlulah Wahidi confirming the report said no casualties were reoported following the missile attacks.


DoD: Pfc. Barrett L. Austin

War News for Monday, April 22, 2013

Yemen: Drone strike kills 'Qaeda militants'


Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban insurgents have seized eight Turks and an Afghan from a civilian helicopter which made an emergency landing in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. A district administrator in the area says the helicopter owned by an Afghan company landed on Sunday afternoon in strong winds and rain in a village of Logar province, southeast of Kabul and about 30km from the Pakistan border. Hamidullah Hamid said on Monday that the Taliban captured all nine aboard the aircraft and took them from the area.

#2: At least three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were defused by Bomb Disposal Squad personnel at Dardar Abdullah Baba in Badaber’s Sheikhan area on the outskirts of Peshawar. BDS sources told Dawn.com the explosives were fitted with timers and were defused due to the timely intervention of the bomb disposal squad upon receiving information.

#3: Nearly a dozen people were wounded when unidentified suspects hurled an explosive device near a bakery in Kharadar on Sunday night, police said. The police officials added that the incident took place on Younghusband Road in the old city area near Mehran Bakery.

News of the Day for Sunday, April 21, 2013

Taliban attack police checkpoint in Ghazni, kill 6 police officers. Dayak district governor Sayed Fazl Ahmad Tolwak says they had an insider accomplice, who escaped with the assailants.

Taliban amputate a hand and a foot of each of two employees of a private security company in Herat province, after abducting them and holding a trial. The company provides security services to ISAF logistics convoys; however the Taliban apparently accused the men of robbing travelers. The victims are currently hospitalized.

Thirty students of a girls' high school fall ill of apparent poisoning  in Takhar province, according to a Fars report quoting Xinhua. (Such incidents have occurred many times.) Khaama gives the number of victims as 48. A similar incident on Thursday affected 17 girls.

Four Pakistani soldiers are killed by a roadside bomb  in North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

Bombing in a bazaar in Paktika injures 9. (Consider that this is an everyday occurrence in Afghanistan; imagine the impact of a similar incident in the U.S.)

A large demonstrtion in Jalalabad calls for removal of Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Shirzai over allegations of corruption.

In and indication of the distrust between the neighboring countries, a Bakhtar editorial accuses Pakistan of deliberately fomenting insurgency in Wardoj district in order to disrupt economic development and maintain Afghanistan in an impoverished state. (I cannot comment on the veracity of this allegation. C)

A mass grave is found in Bagram district, probably a legacy of the Soviet occupation. (Just a reminder of the long history of war in Afghanistan.)

Interior ministry claims 10 insurgents killed in various operations in the past 24 hours.

Report by a private agency finds insurgent attacks up sharply this year.

War News for Saturday, April 20, 2013

Soldier wounded in Afghanistan returning home -snip- The 30-year-old Senkowski lost both his legs in October 2011 when an improvised explosive device exploded while he was serving in Afghanistan.

Gunmen kill Yemen intelligence officer


Reported security incidents
#1: An Australian soldier has been wounded while on duty in the Helmand province in Afghanistan. The Special Operations Task Group soldier suffered a minor fragmentation wound to the arm from a ricochet from a small arms round.

#2: A bomb blast at the main gate of a hospital in a lawless tribal area of northwest Pakistan Saturday killed at least four people and wounded four others, officials said. The explosion took place in Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan. Local administration official Abdul Haseeb confirmed the bombing and casualties and said it was not immediately clear if the bomb was detonated remotely or was a suicide attack.

#3: Twelve Taliban militants were killed as they came in contact with police in Ghazni province 125 km south of Kabul Friday night, a local official Mohammad Nazif Sultani said Saturday. "The personnel of local police were on routine patrol when they came in contact with Taliban rebels in Waziri village of Muqar district last night during which 12 rebels were killed," Sultani told Xinhua. However, he refused to say if there were any casualties on the security personnel.

#4: A 22-inch-diametre pipeline supplying gas to Punjab from Sui was blown up in the Kashmor area of Rajanpur on Friday. The police said that unidentified terrorists blew up the pipeline with explosives in Faiz Muhammad Goth, suspending gas supply to several areas of Punjab.

#5: Two Taliban militants were killed as their explosive device exploded prematurely in Baghlan province 160 km north of Kabul Friday night, police said Saturday. "Three Taliban rebels were busy in making mine inside a house in Baghlan-e-Markazi district last night but the device went off prematurely killing two on the spot and injuring another," district police chief Ghulam Sakhi Rustaqi told newsmen in a press briefing here.

#6: According to local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, at least 7 people including 2 civlians and 5 police forces were injured following a suicide attack in this province. The officials further added, the incident took place after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a joint convoy of Afghan and coalition security forces in Sangin district on Friday.

War News for Friday, April 19, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban insurgents killed 13 local policemen Friday in an attack on their checkpoint in southeast Afghanistan, officials said. The policemen were sleeping when their post in the Andar district of Ghazni province came under fire, said district governor Mohammad Qasim Desiwal.

#2: At least two people were injured in rocket attack at a political gathering in NA-41 constituency of South Waziristan’s Wana area on Friday. A political rally of Nasir Ahmed was underway in Wana when a rocket landed from an unknown direction injuring two persons. Further details were not available till the filing of this report.

#3: In the latest string of violence, a Taliban suicide bomber stroke security forces in the country's southern province of Helmand, injuring seven people. "A militant detonated an explosive-laden car along a road in Sanging district when Afghan police and foreign soldiers were patrolling the area. The blast killed the attacker and injured seven others," the district administrative chief, Daud Noorzai, told Xinhua. The injured included five Afghan policemen and two civilians, the official said adding, "Their wounds were not life-threatening. "

#4: An Afghan policeman and two militants were killed overnight when Taliban militants launched an attack in the country's northern province of Badakhshan, an official said on Friday. "Several armed militants raided Afghan Border Police checkpoints in Teergran area in Wardoj district at midnight. A border cop and two militants were killed in the gunfight," Dawlat Mohammad, the administrative chief of Wardoj, told Xinhua. He said an unknown number of militants were also wounded in the fighting lasting for a while.

War News for Thursday, April 18, 2013

Seems to be a slow news day so get out and enjoy your day. – whisker

Reported security incidents
#1: Two local employees of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) have been killed in an attack in the north of the country, Red Cross and Red Crescent officials said on Wednesday. Two other staffers were injured in the shooting late on Tuesday on a main road in the Khanaqa district of Jawzjan province while their mobile clinic was travelling to the provincial capital Shiberghan, the officials said in a statement.

War News for Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan official says insurgents have ambushed a convoy of trucks in a restive province near the capital, Kabul, killing five members of a government guard force. The spokesman for the governor of Wardak province says the convoy of supply trucks was being escorted by the Afghan Public Protection Force when it was ambushed on Tuesday on the country's main north-south highway in the Sayed Abad district. Attaullah Khogyani says five guards were killed and one was wounded. He says the insurgents fled after the attack.

#2: In eastern Laghman, provincial spokesman Sarhadi Zawak says insurgents attacked a checkpoint, killing four village policemen.

Up to four Afghan policemen were killed and one was wounded when Taliban insurgents launched an attack on a police checkpoint in eastern province of Laghman early Wednesday morning, the provincial government confirmed in a statement. "A large number of militants targeted an Afghan Local Police ( ALP) checkpoint in Bibe Hajira area along the main road linking provincial capital Mehtarlam to neighboring Alingar district at around 2:30 a.m. (local time). As a result four ALP cops died and one other was injured," the statement said. It also said several Taliban militants have also been killed in the clash in the province 90 km east of Kabul.

#3: In northern Jawzjan, provincial chief police Aziz Ghayrat says insurgents opened fire on elders in a village and two health workers were killed in the crossfire. His spokesman Adbdul Mannan Raoufi says six men were shot and killed in another part of Jawzjan. He had no further details.

The bodies of four Afghan soldiers were found on Wednesday with their throats cut in Jawzjan, a day after they were kidnapped by the Taliban along the road to the northern province, police and officials said. They were travelling home for a vacation, according to a local police spokesman. Sayra Shekib, chief of Khwaja Dokoh district, where the soldiers were found, confirmed the incident and blamed the Taliban.

#4: Muhiudin Noori, spokesman for the governor of western Herat province, says seven women and children died when the truck they were in hit a roadside bomb near the town of Shindad.

#5: At least five people were killed and seven others were injured on Wednesday morning in a US drone strike in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan, local media reported. According to the reports, the US drone fired two missiles at a house located in the Babar Ghar village in the Wana district of South Waziristan, Pakistan's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The attack destroyed the compound completely and killed five people while leaving seven others injured.

#6: At least 15 people were killed and over 45 others injured in a suicide blast that targeted a political gathering of Awami National Party (ANP) in Pakistan's northwest Peshawar city on Tuesday night, local media reported. Local Urdu TV channel Geo TV said that a suicide bomber blew up himself near the car of ANP's leader Haroon Bilaur as soon as he left it to address the public. Police said that target of the blast was Haroon Bilaur and his uncle, former Railway minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilaur who got slight injuries in the blast.

War News for Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan commandos killed 22 insurgents on Monday during an operation to capture a Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan, police and the U.S. military said. The raid was carried out in the Bati Kot district of Nangarhar when a team of commandos raided a village, the U.S.-led Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force said. The Taliban commander, Jamal Faroqi, was killed in the raid and 10 insurgents were captured.

#2: The son, brother and nephew of PML-N provincial President Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri were among the four people killed while several others were injured in an attack on his convoy in the Ghut bridge area here on Tuesday. A remote controlled explosion went off after Zehri’s convoy passed Ghat Bridge killing Zehri’s son Mir Sikander, his brother Mir Mehar and nephew Mir Zaid. At least 25 to 30 others were also injured in the remote controlled bomb that was planted under the bridge.

#3: Five security personnel on Tuesday were injured in clashes between security forces and militants in the Akka Khel area of Bara in Khyber Agency. Security forces also defused five Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by militants to target them. Official sources said that militants attacked security forces at about 1:30 am Tuesday morning which was then repulsed.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Matthew P. Ruffner

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Jarett M. Yoder

War News for Monday, April 15, 2013

Record opium crop expected in Afghanistan as farmers return to planting illicit poppies

Afghan Interpreters for the U.S. Are Left Stranded and at Risk

Iraq bombings kill at least 25, wound more than 170


Reported security incidents
#1: A roadside bomb hit a tractor in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing seven civilians and wounding four others, officials said. The tractor and trailer hit the anti-vehicle mine in the Mali Zai area of Zabul province, the ministry of interior said in a statement. “Seven civilians were killed and four other civilians were wounded.

#2: Local leader of an anti-Taliban political party has been killed in a roadside bomb attack by suspected Islamist militants in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley, media reports citing local officials said late on Sunday. According to officials, Mukarram Shah, local leader of the secular Awami National Party (ANP), was killed when his pick-up truck was struck by a roadside bomb near Mingora town. The deceased was alone when the explosion struck.

#3: At least four militants have been killed by a US drone strike on Sunday in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt, security officials said. The attack took place in Datta Khel town, 35 kms (22 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the lawless North Waziristan region which borders Afghanistan. The area is a stronghold of Taleban and al-Qaeda-linked militants. Six US drones flew over the area when one of them fired two missiles at a compound in the Manzarkhel area of the town.

#4: Unknown persons shot dead the driver of a Nato-Supply container here on Sunday, official sources said. The sources said that unknown person attacked in Tedi bazaar the container, carrying supplies for the Afghanistan-based US-led Nato forces. “The driver of the vehicle was killed when unknown gunmen sprayed the vehicle with bullets, killing the driver on the spot,” official sources said.

#5: Ten Taliban militants have been killed in separate military operations across Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Sunday afternoon. "Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Kunar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Khost, Paktia, Badghis and Helmand provinces over the past 24 hours. As a result 10 armed Taliban were killed and three other armed Taliban were arrested," the ministry said in a statement.

News of the Day for Sunday, April 14, 2013

Four police officers killed (apparently) and 6 abducted in Jawzjan province. This story is confusingly written but what it appears to say is that a Taliban commander who had recently been released from prison led an attack on a police checkpoint. There is an intimation of insider collusion but it is not explained. It is unclear whether the 4 dead were among the 6 abducted, or in addition to them.

Two Italian soldiers are injured in an IED attack in Herat province. (I am usually reluctant to link to Fars which is not always reliable, but I have found confirmation for this and the Fars presentation is the cleanest I could find.) From other sources, it appears the injuries were not severe.

Rocket attacks on NATO airbase in Nangarhar reported. I could not find more detail information about damage or casualties.

An investigation ordered by president Karzai finds that a NATO air attack on April 6  in Kunar province killed 17 non-combatants, including 12 children. The airstrikes were called in after an American civilian "adviser" was killed. Karzai condemns the use of air power in residential areas, but adds condemnation of the Taliban for taking shelter in civilian houses. The U.S. has so far not acknowledged the civilian deaths.

Severe unemployment threatens Afghanistan's stability. According to government sources at least 500,000 jobs are needed as NATO troops plan to withdraw, and much foreign spending and aid disappears with them.

Meanwhile, food prices are spiking.

Development projects in Khost have failed.

ISAF announces arrest and killing of various insurgents, including killing two people in (an apparently unsuccessful) search for an insurgent leader in Panjwa'i, Kandahar.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, militants blow up the election office of a secular party in North Waziristan.

In other news, our old friend Iraqi blogger Riverbend has broken her silence of many years with a post noting the 10th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces. She is safe in an unnamed Arab country (having fled for a second time, from Syria), but despairs of the state of Iraq today. Indeed, a candidate for provincial office was assassinated today, bringing the number killed so far to 14.  Twelve worshippers were killed in an attack on a mosque in Baquba. A leading member of the Iraqiya party, former finance minister Rafi al-Issawi has resigned from the government, saying "The Iraqi government will not last long. Maliki has exploited democracy to build a dictatorship." I will continue to follow Iraq here on Sundays; as far as the U.S. corporate media are concerned, the country has dropped off the earth.

War News for Saturday, April 13, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Militants blew up the election office of an independent candidate in North Waziristan tribal agency on Saturday, adding to security fears ahead of historic national polls next month. No one was hurt in the bombing in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.

#2: A civilian helicopter was damaged on Saturday morning when militants fired three rockets at the Jalalabad airport in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an official and ISAF said. The helicopter was damaged at around 5am when the three rockets landed inside the airfield of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an Afghan guard of the airbase said on condition of anonymity.

#3: At least eight persons were killed and 10 others injured today when a powerful blast ripped through a minibus on the outskirts of Peshawar city of north-west Pakistan, police and witnesses said. Police officials said a bomb planted inside the minibus exploded as the vehicle was passing through a market in the suburb of Mattani this afternoon.

War News for Friday, April 12, 2013

Proof the U.S. has lied in the drone wars -- Not exactly proof but this shouldn’t be a shock to anyone. – whisker

Reports Say Pakistani Spy Agency Secretly Collaborated In CIA Drone War

 

Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban militants attacked an army outpost near the eastern border with Pakistan on Friday, killing 13 soldiers, the Defense Ministry said. The fighting began at dawn and lasted about five hours in the Nari district of Kunar province, Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. He said 13 Afghan soldiers were killed. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said the insurgents captured the base, seizing ammunition and weapons. He put the death toll at 15 Afghan soldiers, claiming the militants suffered no casualties among their fighters.

#2: At least nine soldiers and seven militants have died in fresh fighting in the restive Khyber tribal region of northwest Pakistan, taking the total number of security personnel killed during an operation against pro-Taliban rebels to nearly 40. The latest casualties occurred during fighting in Sipah area of Khyber Agency yesterday, the Dawn newspaper reported today.

#3: At least three people were killed and over 22 others injured when a bomb hit a camp of peace militiamen in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency on Thursday afternoon, local media reported. Local TV channel ARY reported that the explosion happened in the restive Tirah Valley area of Khyber Agency at about 3:30 p.m. local time, when some unknown militants targeted the camp of pro- government local people who formed a militia to fight the militants in the area.

War News for Thursday, April 11, 2013

DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation


Reported security incidents
#1: A spokesman for the provincial governor in southern Uruzgan province, Abdullah Himmat, says a bomb killed the police chief of the Chora district and two of his bodyguards while they were on patrol early Thursday.

#2: Ummar Zawaq, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, says a roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded two others in the Marjah district, also on Thursday.

#3: At least 15 militants and one soldier were killed on Thursday when the Pakistani army conducted an operation against the Taliban in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber region.

At least seven militants were killed and several others injured in action by the Pakistan Army after two soldiers were hurt in suspected Taliban ambush on their checkpost in the Dabori area of lawless Orakzai tribal agency bordering Afghanistan, officials said. According to security officials, a group of local militants ambushed an army checkpost in the Dabori area of the tribal agency on Wednesday morning, injuring at least two personnel. Security forces killed seven militants who were trying to escape from the area in vehicles. Three militants were also injured in action, officials said.

War News for Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Former News Sentinel staffer wounded in Afghan suicide bombing still in critical condition

Taliban Defend New Perch in Northern Pakistan, Gaining Sway as Election Nears


Reported security incidents
#1: The military authorities on Tuesday said they had launched a major military operation against the militants in the remote Tirah Valley of the restive Khyber tribal region in which 110 militants and 23 soldiers had been killed. “A major military operation was launched against the militants four days ago to dismantle their sanctuaries. In the four days of fighting, 110 militants and 23 Pakistan Army soldiers have been killed and dozens of militants injured,” a senior military official told The News.

#2: Gunmen shot to death a policeman protecting a team of female polio workers in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks on people working on the U.N.-backed vaccination campaign, police said.

#3: According to local authorities in western Ghor province of Afghanistan, at least two NATO-led coalition security forces were injured after an Afghan security service member opened fire on them.
The officials further added, the incident took place on Tuesday in Cheghcharan city. Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Hai Khatibi confirming the report said the injured soldiers belongs to Lithuania. He said the incident took place after an Afghan soldier called on Lithuanian troops to stop their vehicles. According to Mr. Khatibi the Afghan soldier fired a rocket propelled grenade on the armored vehicle of the Lithuanian troops, injuring two of them.

#4: According to reports, US troops have attacked a civilian bus on Kabul-Herat highway at Adraskan district in western Herat province of Afghanistan on Wednesday. At least one civilian has reportedly been killed and another one has been injured following the incident. The incident took place after the civilian bus got close to the convoy of the US troops.

#5: According to local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, at least 10 people were killed or injured following a roadside improvised explosive device blast in this province. The officials further added, the incident took place on Tuesday in Marjah district, killing at least five people and injuring five others.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Ward

DoD: Spc. Wilbel A. Robles-Santa

War News for Tuesday, April 09, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a helicopter crash in an undisclosed location in somewhere in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, April 9th. News reports that the chopper crashed in Nangarhar province.


French photographer kidnapped in Kabul freed after 3 months


Reported security incidents
#1: NATO says one of its aircraft has crashed in eastern Afghanistan. A local Afghan official says it was a helicopter that came down because of technical problems. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force says one of its aircraft crashed on Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan but could not provide details due to recovery operations.

According to local authorities in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, a NATO helicopter crashed in Pechigram district on Tuesday morning. A border police commander for the 8th Battalion, Nasim Khan confirming the report said the helicopter crashed in Gera Khel area at Pechigram distrrict.

#2: According to reports, a group of Taliban militants attacked a security check post used by Afghan security forces in central Paron district of eastern Nuristan province. A local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the incident took place around 12:00 am local time on Tuesday and continued until dawn time. At least 2 Afghan police officers have reportedly been killed following the clashes.

 

#3: At least 100 militants have been killed in a military operation in Pakistan’s federally-administered tribal areas, a senior Army official told Newsweek late Monday. “The Army seized control of strategic posts from the militants and ground troops have established their positions,” said the official, who wished not to be named. He said 13 Pakistani troops have been killed and another 13 injured fighting the joint forces of the Lashkar-e-Islam militia and the Pakistani Taliban in Tirah valley. The high-pitch battle in Khyber agency’s Tirah valley started Friday.

War News for Monday, April 08, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: At least 11 children have reportedly been killed in a NATO airstrike in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. The children were killed during a joint Afghan-NATO operation against Taliban fighters in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province bordering Pakistan late on Saturday, according to Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. There were conflicting figures of the death toll, but Karzai's office later said 11 people were killed - all of them children - and six women were wounded.

#2: A roadside bomb in Afghanistan exploded under a bus on Monday, killing nine people and wounding at least 22 in an attack by suspected Taliban militants, officials said. "Today at around 8:00 am an IED (improvised explosive device) hit a bus," Attaullah Khogyani, the governor's spokesman in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, told AFP.

#3: Four persons were wounded when a blast occurred near NADRA office in Kharan Monday, FP News desk reported. According to initial reports, miscreants attacked the NADRA building in Kharan with explosives and fled from the site. As a result of explosion, four persons were injured who have been shifted to hospital for treatment, police told. Earlier, District Election Commission’s office was also attacked in which one person was injured. Police retaliated and opened fire after which the militants escaped from the scene.

#4: A total of 16 militants have been killed in separate operations across Afghanistan, authorities said Monday. "Afghan National Police (ALP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched several cleanup operations in Kunar, Nangarhar, Kapisa, Jawzjan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni, Paktya and Helmand provinces over the last 24 hours. As a result 12 armed Taliban insurgents were killed and one armed insurgent was wounded," the country's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#5: According to reports militants have fired at least two rockets on a gathering attended by Afghan president Hamid Karzai in western Farah province of Afghanistan.

News of the Day for Sunday, April 7, 2013

Bomb attack on a convoy in southern Afghanistan kills 3 U.S. service members, a U.S. diplomat, and a civilian DoD employee. There are conflicting reports on the nationality of the civilian. This most recent report says he was an Afghan physician. However, most reports refer to 6 Americans killed. The group was on its way to donate books to a school. A convoy carrying the governor of Zabul province to the same event was nearby. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement saying "“She tragically gave her young life working to give young Afghans the opportunity to have a better future. We also honor the U.S. troops and Department of Defense civilian who lost their lives, and the Afghan civilians who were killed today as they worked to improve the nation they love.” This suggest there were additional Afghan casualties, which this report appears to affirm, without giving any number. It also says four state department staffers were injured, one critically. The Telegraph identifies the deceased U.S. diplomat as Anne Smedinghoff, age 25, of Illinois, who served as John Kerry's "control officer" when he visited Afghanistan two weeks ago.

In a separate incident, an American civilian "advisor" is killed fighting in fighting in Kunar province. (I put the word "advisor" in quotation marks because in Iraq, this meant a mercenary. But we have heard much less about the U.S. privatizing military functions in Afghanistan. It is not clear what role this person was playing. -- C)

An Afghan policeman is killed and 3 civilians injured by a bomb attached to a donkey  in Lagham province.

Mirza Ali, Council Chief for eastern Paktia province, is assassinated.

Department of "Well duhhh": Pakistan approved U.S. drone strikes in secret deal struck in 2004, according to a report in the New York Times. (I've linked to Khaama press.) According to the report, the Pakistani intelligence service first agreed to the deal in order to achieve the targeted killing of Taliban leader Nek Muhammad. 

Under the agreement, ISI and CIA agreed that US would never acknowledge the missile strikes under the “covert action authority” and that Pakistan would either take credit for the individual killings or remain silent. This comes as Pakistani officials have long been criticized US for violating its sovereignty through drone strikes however New York Times stated that it was Muhammad’s rise to power that forced them to reconsider their line of thought and eventually allow Predator drones. The covert drone war begun under the Bush administration and was further expanded during president Barack Obama’s leadership under the ISI-CIA “back-room bargain”. CIA changed its focus from capturing terrorists to killing under the deal which helped transform an agency that began as a cold war espionage service into a paramilitary organization, The New York Times added in its report.

I will just add that it has been obvious all along to everyone with one brain cell to rub against another that the ISI knew about, authorized and supported the U.S. drone campaign, and pretended to be outraged for the sake of public opinion. What ought to be most disturbing to Americans, however, is that the U.S. has entered into a secret war with essentially no congressional approval or oversight, or public debate. Few people seem to care. -- C Here is the NYT report.

 

War News for Saturday, April 06, 2013

UNHR chief calls for closure of Guantanamo prison camp


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber targeted a provincial governor's convoy Saturday near a hospital in southern Afghanistan, killing a doctor, officials said. Gov. Mohammad Ashraf Nasery, who escaped the assassination attempt, said a car bomb exploded as his convoy was passing the hospital en route to an event at a nearby school in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province. He said the doctor was killed, and two of his bodyguards and a student from the school were wounded.

#2: Afghan forces backed by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed two militants including a senior Taliban official in eastern Kunar province on Friday, the alliance confirmed on Saturday. "An Afghan and coalition security force killed Darah-ye Pech district's highest-ranking Taliban official, Hajji Matin, and one other insurgent during an operation in Darah-ye Pech district, Kunar province, yesterday," the statement released here said.


DoD: Capt. James Michael Steel

War News for Friday, April 05, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF Airman from a fixed wing plane crash related injury in an undisclosed location in somewhere in Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 3rd. News reports that an f-16 crashed somewhere in eastern Afghanistan.


New Zealand withdraws Afghan troops


Reported security incidents
#1: An official says a bomb attached to a donkey has exploded, killing a policeman and wounded three civilians. Local government spokesman Sarhadi Zwak says the donkey blew up in front a police security post in the Alingar district of Laghman province.

#1: According to reports a number of vehicles caught fire near US-run Bagram airfield on Wednesday night with Taliban group claiming reponsibility behind the incident. District police chief for Bagram Zmarai Nasiri confirming the report said the incident took place on eastern part of Bagram airbase on Wednesday night. Mr. Nasiri further added that 10 vehicles along with an oil tanker transporting fuel for the international coalition forces were destroyed following incident. Zabiullah Mujahid further added that Taliban fighters tactically attacked the oil tankers stop from the third entry gate of the Bagram Air base used by US forces. However local officials deny Taliban group’s comments and said the incident took place due to a gas cylinder explosion.

War News for Thursday, April 04, 2013

2,200 wounded servicemen carried from Afghanistan through Azerbaijan within 8 months of 2012


Reported security incidents
#1: update Insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms killed at least 44 people and wounded nearly 100 others Wednesday in a nearly nine-hour attack on Afghan government buildings in the southwestern province of Farah, said Mohammad Akram Ekhpelwak, the province's governor. The firefight has ended. Of the dead, 34 are civilians and 10 are Afghan security forces, according to Ekhpelwak. Nine armed attackers are dead, he added. The attackers drove army vehicles to gain access to the area, said police chief Noor Agha Kantoz.

#2: A NATO air strike killed four Afghan police and two civilians on Thursday, Afghan officials said. A spokesman for the US-led NATO force in Kabul told AFP that the military was checking the information. The attack happened after Taliban insurgents attacked a local police post in eastern Ghazni province before dawn and NATO planes were called in to support the officers under attack. "The NATO planes went there to assist the police, but the post was bombed and four police were killed. Two civilians present were also killed," Fazul Ahmad Tolwak, chief of Ghazni's Deh Yak district, told AFP. Ghazni provincial administration spokesman Fazul Sabawoon confirmed the incident and gave a similar account.

#3: At least three soldiers were injured and four militants killed when a group of Afghan assailants stormed an army check post in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency on Thursday morning, local media reported. ARY TV said that in a pre-dawn incident, the militants coming from Afghanistan attacked the check post located in Ali Zai area of Lower Kurram Agency, a militancy-hit tribal region at Pakistan Afghan border. By using sophisticated weapons, the militants injured three soldiers and destroyed the check post partially, said that report. The troops countered the attack with full force, killing four militants and injuring six others.

War News for Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Hungary to pull out of Afghanistan this week


Reported security incidents
#1: Suicide bombers disguised as Afghan soldiers attacked a government compound Wednesday in a failed bid to free more than a dozen Taliban prisoners being transferred to court proceedings in western Afghanistan, officials said. At least 10 people were reported killed, including three of the attackers. The assault in Farah province. Six men wearing suicide vests drove into the center of the provincial capital, which has the same name, in Afghan national army vehicles that allowed them to bypass checkpoints, provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz said. Two of the attackers blew themselves up inside one of the vehicles while four others jumped out of the second and ran toward the courthouse and prosecutor’s office, he said. Guards opened fire, killing one of the attackers, while the other three fled to nearby buildings and engaged in a fierce gunbattle that left civil servants and government officials holed up in their offices. Two policemen and three civilians, including a judge and his son, also were killed. The director of public health for the province, Abdul Jabar Shayeq, said 72 people also were wounded, including 12 security forces and 60 civilians.

#2: In other violence, Taliban gunmen attacked a local police patrol late Tuesday in southeastern Paktika province and six insurgents were killed in the fighting, according to a statement from the governor’s office. A roadside bomb then struck a police vehicle as it was leaving the area, killing four patrollers, it said.

#3: Four police officers also were killed and one wounded Tuesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in northeastern Kunar province during an operation to clear the area of explosives, government spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi said.

War News for Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Officials: Afghan teen fatally stabs U.S. soldier


Reported security incidents
#1: Several dozen militants armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades have attacked a power grid station in north-western Pakistan, killing seven people and taking four hostage, police say. The attack on the outskirts of Peshawar city occurred at about 2am on Tuesday, said the local police chief in the area, Granullah Khan. The militants killed two people at the scene of the attack and took nine with them, he said. The militants then killed five of the hostages as they were fleeing and were pursued by police, said the police chief. The bodies were found about half a mile (1km) away from the grid station. Four of the abducted were still missing. The dead included three policemen and four government power workers, said Khan. The men still missing are all power workers.

#2: A traffic police officer and a constable were killed in a gun attack on a traffic police post near the Lasbela intersection that also left their two colleagues wounded on Monday, officials said. They added that two men riding a motorbike pulled up near the Lasbela police post and one of them walked up to the officials standing outside the facility. “He pulled out a pistol and fired multiple shots at them before speeding away with his accomplices,” said an official at the Soldier Bazaar police station.

#3: Eight Taliban militants were killed as aircraft targeted a Taliban hideout in Farah province 695 km west of Kabul Monday night, provincial police chief Aqa Noor Kintoz said Tuesday. "Acting upon intelligence report, the aircraft pounded a Taliban hideout in Pushtrod district last night killing eight Taliban rebels including a local commander Mullah Mansoor and two would-be suicide bombers last night," Kintoz told Xinhua.

#4: According to local authorities in north-eastern Bakhshan province of Afghanistan, Afghan security forces cleared the volatile Wardoj district from militants. Police officials said the operations were conducted in 43 villages of Wardoj district. Provincial police chief Gen. Imamuddin Mutmaeen said the operations launched three days back by Afghan security forces and ended on Monday evening. In the meantime a local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said around 80 militants were killed and over 110 others were injured during the operations.

#5: In a separate statement Afghan defense ministry announced at least 9 militants were killed during military operations by Afghan national army soldiers during the past 24 hours. Defense officials further added that the operations were conducted in Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Logar and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Curtis S. Reagan

War News for Monday, April 01, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Unknown militants torched five containers, carrying back Nato supplies from Afghanistan to Port Qasim Karachi, in Balochistan’s Bolan district on Monday. Sources told that four motorcycle-riding militants opened fire on containers in Kambiri area of Bolan district adding that the drivers survived the attack. Levies further said that the armed men set containers in fire after the drivers fled from the site.

#2: A local police commander was shot dead by his bodyguards who later join to the insurgents in northern Faryab province, an official on Monday said. The shooting took place late on Sunday in the Khwaja Kanti area of Qaisar district, Abdul Jameel Sadique, the district chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#3: Unknown gunmen attacked a police check post in Shangla and injured two policemen Monday, FP News desk reported. According to police, unidentified attackers opened fire on a police check post in the wee hours of Monday morning in Tehsil Poran of Shanga that injured two security men. The assailants fled when the policemen opened fire in return.


#4: Afghan security forces and the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have defused 10 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in eastern Afghanistan, the ISAF said on Monday. "Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared 10 improvised explosive devices, detained four suspected insurgents, discovered one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The home-made bombs were neutralized in Khost, Paktika, Kunar, Logar and Laghman provinces, it added.

#5: Separately, a local Taliban leader named Hodeer Khan and two others were killed and two insurgents were wounded in an airstrike by the coalition forces in Wata Pur district, Kunar province, provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Habib told Xinhua earlier Monday.