War News for Friday, May 31, 2013

Pakistani Taliban withdraw peace talks offer

Red Cross halts work in Afghanistan after attack


Reported security incidents
#1: Spc. Michael Millwood, 23, of Rock Hill, has been in eastern Afghanistan for about three months with the Third Infantry Division Special Troop Battalion. He works as a combat engineer – clearing roads of bombs and explosives. The unit was “out on patrol when insurgents started firing,” Millwood said. The attack happened out in the open, and the soldiers dropped to the ground to return fire.

#2: A man was killed when a powerful bomb exploded at Badabair area in the outskirts of the city here on Friday. According to spokesman of Badabair police station, the incident occurred at Masogujar village where a bomb planted on roadside exploded with huge bang. As a result, Najeem Khan, who was passing through the area, came under the attack and killed instantly.

#3: Three security personnel were killed and 15 were injured in a clash with militants in the northwestern tribal region of Orakzai on Friday, security sources said. The clash took place in Orakzai’s Samo Kali area after which forces retaliated killing 20 militants.

At least 18 militants were killed and five hideouts were destroyed in shelling by jetfighters in Para Chamkani area in central Kurram Agency on Thursday, sources said.The sources said the security forces jetfighters pounded the hideouts of the militants in Para Chamkani, killing 18 militants and destroying their five hideouts.

#4: Pakistan Army’s convoy was attacked in a remote area at Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were military offensive is being carried out against insurgents, FP news desk reported. Officials said a soldier was killed and three others were injured when militants attacked military vehicles in Jani Khel area of Bannu.

#5: A Pakistani soldier was killed and three others were injured in a roadside bomb blast near the North Waziristan tribal region Friday morning, security officials said. A vehicle of the Bomb Disposal Squad was hit by a landmine at Jani Khel, a town at the edge of North Waziristan, killing a soldier on the spot. Members of the squad were scanning the area for the convoy of security forces when the blast occurred.

#6: Units of security forces raided Taliban hideouts in Chardara district of Kunduz provine 260 km north of Kabul on Friday killing four militants, a local official said. "Personnel of security forces including local policemen raided Taliban hideouts in Chardara district early today morning killing four rebels including their commander Mullah Rahmatullah," district governor Abadullah Talwar told Xinhua. Three more militants were injured in the operation, he added.

#7: Clash between Taliban militants and pro-government villagers in Andar district of Ghazni province, 125 km south of Kabul, has left 31 Taliban fighters dead on Friday. "Taliban militants raided three villages in Andar district at 01:00 a.m. local time and we resisted. The gun battle lasted for six hours during which 31 rebels, including Pakistanis, Arabs and Chechens, were killed and the remaining rebels run away," commander of villagers, Latif Kamran told Xinhua.

#8: According to local authorities in eastern Nuristan province of Afghanistan, cross-border shelling was resumed by Pakistan and several artillery rounds and rockets were fired in this province during the past two days. The officials further added that the shelling was resumed in Kamdish district, which has also incurred casualties to local residents. Provincial governor spokesman Zahir Bahand said majority of the rockets landed in Daba village at Gawhardish area in Kamdish district. He said at least one local resident was killed and two others were injured during the shelling and the central government in Kabul has been informed of the shelling by Pakistan.

War News for Thursday, May 30, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, May 30th.

Major attack on Afghan capital 'thwarted'

Lawyer: Soldier to plead guilty in killing of 16 Afghan villagers

British Defense Chief Confirms Detentions of Afghans at Base


Reported security incidents
#1: Two attackers and a security guard were killed on Wednesday during an assault on a Red Cross building in Afghanistan and a gun battle between police and militants, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Insurgents stormed the International Committee of the Red Cross building in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan parliament member Haji Hazrat Ali told CNN the incident started with one attacker blowing himself up and others entering the building. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said forces surrounded the building and engaged in a gun battle with the attackers. Seven foreign nationals were rescued and one ICRC foreign staffer was slightly injured, he said.

#2: At least 17 militants were killed and several others injured when Pakistani jets bombed militant hideouts in the Kurram tribal region during a security forces operation on Thursday, local media reported. The militants were killed when four insurgent hideouts were destroyed in the action in central Kurram's Tabay area. Moreover, several militants were also injured, official sources told reporters.

#3: Twenty-two insurgents have been killed in eastern Afghan provinces during operations started on Wednesday, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Thursday. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed 22 insurgents, detained one suspected insurgent and found and safely cleared 11 improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a statement. The raids were conducted in Paktiya, Paktika, Khost, Nangarhar, Panjshir and Wardak provinces, the statement added.

#4: Commandos from the 2nd and 6th Special Operations Kandak killed four insurgents and detained 86 insurgents in Tagab district, Kapisa province, May 28. The Commandos killed and apprehended the insurgents while conducting clearing operations in Alah Say and Bedraou valleys.

War News for Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: A pair of suspected U.S. missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft killed four alleged militants early Wednesday near the Afghan border in Pakistan, intelligence officials said, the first drone strike since Pakistan's nationwide elections earlier this month. Wednesday's strike came in the North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold for militants in the mountainous stretch of land bordering Afghanistan to the west. Pakistani intelligence officials said the missiles hit a house in the town of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan.

#2: Seven insurgents wearing police uniforms and bomb-laden vests attacked a government compound in a usually secure province in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing one police officer, officials said.  Governor Kramuddin Karim said the attack targeted the government complex in the provincial capital of Bazarak, and that all seven militants were killed. 

#3: Afghan army and police supported by the NATO-led coalition forces have eliminated 29 armed Taliban militants and detained 45 others during different operations started on Tuesday, the country's Interior Ministry said Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), army and the coalition forces conducted several clearance operations over the past 24 hours, killing 29 armed Taliban and detaining 45 other armed suspects," the ministry said in a statement. Eight other militants were wounded during the operations conducted in Baghlan, Kapisa, Badakhshan, Sari Pul, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces, it noted.

#4: Earlier on Wednesday, four people, including three school girls, were wounded when two back-to-back Improvised Explosive Devices ( IEDs) went off near a girl school in Ghazni city, the provincial capital of eastern Ghazni province 120 km south of capital Kabul. However, a militant, who used a remote-control device to initiate the blasts, was killed by ANP in a exchange of fire shortly after the explosions, the provincial deputy police chief Assadullha Insafi told Xinhua.


DoD: Spc. Christopher R. Drake

War News for Monday, May 28, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: An official says two guests invited by an Afghan police commander to eat with him at his checkpoint picked up weapons after dinner and opened fire, killing him and six of his men.

#2: lawmaker says a roadside bomb under a bridge has hit his convoy on a major highway north of Kabul, killing five people. Obaidullah Ramin, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, says he does not believe he was intentionally targeted by the explosion early Tuesday. Police confirmed his account. He said the main highway leading north out of Kabul is often mined by Taliban insurgents to target official-looking convoys.

#3: Twenty insurgents and six policemen were killed in violence related incidents across the country over the past 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday. The latest fatalities occurred on Monday, when 15 insurgents, including three Pakistani nationals, were killed during a clash with security forces in southern Helmand province. Another 18 insurgents were injured during the clash that took place in the Safar area of Garamser district, the governor’s spokesman, Omar Zhwak, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#4: In a separate clash, five militants were killed and three others wounded in central Uruzgan province. The clash between police and the rebels occurred in the Gorgin area of Charchino district, the district police chief, 2nd Lt. Wali Dad, said. A policeman was also injured during the two-hour clash, he added.

#5: Three members of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) force were killed on Monday evening when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Arwa area of Khakrez district, the governor’s spokesman, Javed Faisal, said. A local police commander, Asadullah, was also wounded in the blast, he said.

#6: A highway police deputy commander, Maj. Abdul Qayum, was among three policemen killed and seven others wounded as a result of an insurgent attack in northern Jawzjan province on Tuesday. Jawzjan deputy police chief, Col. Syed Mohammad Husaini, said the incident took place in the Seh Shanba village on the outskirts of Shiberghan, the provincial capital.

#7: According to local authorities in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, unknown gunmen assassinated secretary of Afghan senate chairman in Chaparhar district. The report has also been confirmed by Chaparhar district governor. A spokesman for Nangarhar police department Hazrat Hussain Mashriqi said, “Shafiqullah, secretary of Afghan senate chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Lalma area in Chaparhar district on Monday.”

War News for Monday, May 27, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an indirect fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 26th.

Afghan police casualties rise as Taliban attacks surge


Reported security incidents
#1: The coalition also said a car bomb hit a Nato convoy early on Monday in the country’s west, but there were no military casualties. Three Afghan civilians were wounded in the blast that hit the convoy in Farah province, deputy governor Mohammad Rasouli said.

A suicide bomber attacked an Italian troop convoy Monday, injuring two soldiers and two Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan, an official said. Farah provincial government spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhwandai said the attacker drove an explosives-filled car and detonated it near the convoy.

#2: Two soldiers were injured in an explosion near a security checkpost in Janikhel area in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu on Sunday, sources said.The sources said explosive device planted by unidentified persons near the security checkpost in Janikhel area went off, leaving two soldiers injured.

#2: An electricity pylon was blown up in the Jaganath area of the district early Sunday, police officials said.They said four bombs planted under the pylon exploded one after the other, causing suspension of the power supply to the Sheikh Mohammadi gridstation in Peshawar for a few hours, the sources added.

#3: Heavy clashes have been reported in eastern Ghazni city after several Taliban militants carried out attack on a number of security check posts on Sunday evening. Deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi confirming the report said heavy clashes are going on in Khosh, Khak-e-Gharibha and Sanjak areas of Ghazni city. According to reports heavy and light weapons are used during the clashes between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces and there are fears that clashes could harm local residents.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 26, 2013

Defense ministry issues a monthly summary of operations, saying that 441 militants and over 100 Afghan soldiers have died in more than 2,000 military operations. (Afghanistan uses the solar Hijiri calendar, which if I'm not mistaken means they are talking about the just-concluded month of Ǧwayay (in Pashto), which corresponds to the Zodiacal sign of Taurus.)

Twelve people -- 4 Taliban and 8 bystanders-- die when explosives detonate accidentally  in a mosque in Ghazni province. Apparently the Taliban were transporting the explosives and had stopped at the mosque to pray.

In a conceptual art project to promote peace and women's rights, volunteers distribute 10,000 pink balloons in Kabul. ""It is all about staying together and making sense by going beyond language, politics and religion. We all are humans, and this is what brings us closer. Saturday's attack made me quite worried. I called all my volunteers and asked- should we cancel the event? And, every single person who believed in bringing peace back into this country, said no, we must do this, nothing can stop us," said artist Yazmany Arboleda. (The project will now move on to other cities.)

Further details on the attack on the offices of the International Organization for Migration  on Friday, to which Arboleda refers.
 
ISAF says 11 insurgents killed in joint operations on Saturday.

A tractor filled with explosives is seized in Kandahar province, its driver shot dead. Apparently he planned a suicide attack in Kandahar city.

Here's one where I think you need to read between the lines. U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in a D.C. press conference, discusses the Afghan Air Force. (To put this in context, although the Afghan army is showing improved competence in ground combat, it still depends on the U.S. for logistical support, including air operations. For the U.S. to truly leave Afghan forces on their own in 2012, this major problem will need to be solved.) While Afghan pilots have been trained, the country has yet to receive transport aircraft. "US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Mark Welsh, who visited Afghanistan recently, said he was quite impressed by the progress being made by the Afghan air force. . . . Afghan pilots have no problem flying airplanes and helicopters. “Their expertise in actually executing the mission is not insignificant.” He added there is, nonetheless, lack of expertise in running and managing an Air Force including larger logistical support and the infrastructure management."

In Iraq, the violence continues, with three separate attacks on security forces killing 5 in Mosul. Arab Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Muhammed Al Mutlaq says Kurdistan should separate from Iraq. Seven Iranian pilgrims are killed in a car bomb attack near Samarra. AFP discusses the recent spike in violence as provoked by Sunni greivances. The Foreign Minister of Syria visits Baghdad to meet with PM Maliki, whose government has been quietly supportive of the Assad regime.

War News for Saturday, May 25, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: In Kabul, a man wearing an explosives-filled vest died when the vest went off as he left a home in the capital's southeast, police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanekzai said. No one else was killed or wounded, but the accidental detonation may have averted another attack in the city, which has seen two deadly suicide attacks in just over a week.

#2: On Friday afternoon, a suicide car bomber kicked off an assault targeting a guest house for aid workers with the International Organization for Migration. Kabul police on Saturday raised the siege death toll from two to four, including a 6-year-old child, two compound guards and one policeman. All six of the attackers were killed, one in the bomb and five more in an hours-long shootout with police in the upscale neighborhood that is home to the United Nations' office as well as the headquarters of the Afghan Public Protection Force and a hospital run by the National Directorate for Security. Four IOM workers were wounded including an Italian woman badly burned by a grenade, the aid group said.

#3: In the eastern province of Ghazni, another explosion at a local mosque killed four civilians and eight militants during Friday night prayers, local official Qasim Desewal said Saturday. He said that the Taliban had apparently stopped at the mosque in Andar district while traveling and the explosives they were carrying went off while they were inside.

#4: At least four militants were killed on Saturday when fighter jets bombed three militant hideouts in Tirah valley of Khyber tribal region. Reportedly, three militants were also injured in the airstrike.

#5: In another incident, three policemen were injured when their vehicle was hit by remote-control bomb in Upper Dir’s Sahibabad area.
#6: According to details, DPO Kohat, Dilawar Bangush, got injured when his convoy came under rocket and gun attack in Ghaziabad area of Matni near Peshawar from militants when he was coming to Peshawar from Kohat. Reinforcement of police was called in from Peshawar after which exchange of fire between police and militants took place. At least six police personnel were killed during exchange of firing. Police and security forces have codoned off the area and launched a search to arrest the militants.

War News for Friday, May 24, 2013

Pivoting From a War Footing, Obama Acts to Curtail Drones

C.I.A. to Focus More on Spying, a Difficult Shift


Reported security incidents
#1: Police say a suicide bomber walked up to a vehicle owned by an Afghan religious leader in northwestern Pakistan and set off his explosives, killing three people. The leader, Haji Hayatullah, was not harmed in the attack in Peshawar city because he was in a nearby mosque attending Friday prayers. Police officer Riaz Ali Shah says Hayatullah's driver and guard were killed. Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan says a passerby was also killed and two others were wounded.

#2: One driver and his helper were killed, while another was injured, when gunmen opened fire on a convoy of NATO containers in a Khyber Agency. The attack took place in tehsil Jamrud of Khyber Agency, reports The News. Armed men opened fire from the mountains on the convoy, carrying NATO military vehicles after it entered Pakistan from Afghanistan. A police source said two vehicles in the convoy were also damaged in the attack.

#3: At least 15 suspected militants and two security personnel were killed and 18 others soldiers sustained injuries in a clash between militants and security forces in Zarmina area of central Kurram Agency on Thursday. According to security sources, following the clash in central Kurram, jet fighters bombed militant positions, killing 15 suspected militants. Security official said that the injured personnel were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Thal.

#4: Separately in the Bajour tribal region, militants attacked a security check post injuring two Levies men. The power lines were also damaged in an exchange of fire between the two sides, suspending electricity supply in the region.

War News for Thursday, May 23, 2013

Drone strike kills American citizen

Afghanistan’s Karzai Says ‘No Circumstances’ Allow Him to Seek Another Term


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb planted in a rickshaw tore through a vehicle used by security forces in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, police said. The remotely detonated bomb containing around 100 kilos (220 pounds) of explosives targeted a truck carrying members of a government paramilitary force on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province. "At least 12 people have been killed, 11 of them were security personnel," senior police official Fayyaz Sumbal told AFP.

War News for Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Afghan interpreter’s family killed by Taliban near Kandahar

Debate Aside, Number of Drone Strikes Drops Sharply


Reported security incidents
#1: Four militants have been killed and seven others detained in joint operations carried out by Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition troops within the last 48 hours in different parts of Afghanistan. The operations took place in Helmand, Paktia and Wardak provinces.

#2: A relatively heavy explosion rocked Ghazni city in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday morning. Afghan Deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi confirming the report said the incident took place in a bus station, according to Afghan (Khaama Press). Officials in Ghazni state hospital said at least six people killed or injured following the blast have been taken to the hospital and the health condition of a number of individuals injured are critical. According to reports the incident took place after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the bus stop, however local officials are saying it is yet not clear if it was a suicide attack.

#3: A security personnel was killed and five others injured in a blast in Dargai area of North Waziristan Agency on Tuesday. According to sources, some unidentified miscreants planted an explosive device near an electricity pole, which exploded when a team of experts was testing the pylon in the Sawa area of Dargai. As a result, at least six security personnel were injured, while the team of experts remained unhurt. The injured were shifted to a local hospital, where one of them succumbed to his injuries. The pylon was also damaged in the blast.

#4: Local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan said one civilian was killed and three others were injured following an explosion in Nad-e-Ali district on Wednesday morning. Provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak said the incident took place after an explosive device went off near a private hospital.

#5: In the meantime three Afghan civilians were killed and two others were injured following a roadside bomb explosion in Pusht-e-Rod ditrict of western Farah province. Farah governor spokesman Abdul Rahman zhwandai confirming the report said the incident took place late Tuesday afternoon after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb.

War News for Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Torture Victim’s Body Is Found Near U.S. Base, Afghans Say

Police: Bombings in northern Iraq; 14 dead, many wounded


Reported security incidents
#1: At least seven policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, officials say. The policemen were travelling in the Chashti Shareef district of Herat province when their vehicle was hit.

#2: Meanwhile, a Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan has killed four police officers. Officials say a large number of Taliban fighters attacked several security checkpoints in Helmand province.

Taliban aims victory after NATO pullout from Afghanistan: Azimi

An Afghan provincial official said Tuesday that four Afghan policemen and 26 militants have been killed in ongoing clashes in the country's southern province of Helmand. "Militants numbered hundreds launched armed attacks against police checkpoints in Pirozo and Kolali areas of Sangin district Monday morning and clashes still going on there till now," the provincial government spokesman Omar Zawak told Xinhua. Up to Tuesday morning, four Afghan National Police (ANP) members and 26 militants died and five cops wounded in the clashes, he said.

#3: Eighteen militants have been killed and 22 others detained in a series of operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday. "Up to 18 armed Taliban have been killed and 22 others captured in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces when Afghan National Police (ANP), supported by army and the NATO-led coalition troops, conducted cleanup operations over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#4: Earlier on Tuesday, 13 Taliban militants were killed in two separate blasts when the IEDs they were placing to target security forces went off prematurely in Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province, said Nazifullah Sultanzay an Afghan army spokesman in eastern region.


DoD (updated release): Pfc. Cody J. Towse

DoD: Sgt. Eugene M Aguon

DoD: Spc. Dwayne W. Flores

War News for Monday, May 20, 2013

Imran Khan’s sister says British govt responsible for threats to PTI

Drone strike kills two 'Qaeda militants' in Yemen

Car bombs target Iraqi Shi'ites, killing at least 43


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber has killed at least 14 people in northern Afghanistan's Baghlan province, including a senior local politician, police say. Haji Rasool Khan Mohseni was the head of the provincial council. Police officials told the BBC that an attacker wearing military uniform detonated a suicide vest at the gate of the council's headquarters in Baghlan's capital Pul-e Khomri. At least five people were injured in the attack.

#2: Unidentified gunmen attacked two empty trailers returning from Afghanistan in Jamrud Tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday morning, official and tribal sources said. The sources said the gunmen opened fire on the trucks near Ali Masjid in Jamrud. The trucks overturned and sustained damage as a result of the attack. However, the occupants of both the vehicles escaped unhurt in the ambush, the sources added.

#3: Similarly, three time bombs planted on the Jamrud and Landikotal bypass roads were also defused before it could go off. It was learnt that two water-coolers packed with explosives had been placed on the Landikotal bypass road near the offices of the Communication and Works Department while the other bomb was planted on Jamrud Bypass Road to target the Nato supply line.

#4: Gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team in Bajaur district on Monday, killing a policeman who was providing security, officials said. The attackers opened fire as the team was going to administer polio drops in Kalam town in Bajaur district, one of the seven tribal areas along the Afghan border, local administration official Suhail Ahmed Khan said.

#5: Seven insurgents have been killed in joint operations in eastern Afghan provinces, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Monday. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed seven insurgents, detained four suspected insurgents, discovered two weapons caches and found and safely cleared eight improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The raids were conducted in Khost, Paktiya, Paktika, Nangarhar and Wardak provinces, the release added.

#6: A plane with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) made hard landing in Logar province 60 km south of Kabul on Sunday, a statement of the alliance released here said. "An International Security Assistance Force C-130 had a hard landing in Logar province, Afghanistan today," the statement added. The statement without providing more details stressed that, " There are no casualties, and there was no indication of insurgent activity in the area at the time."

News of the Day for Sunday, May 19, 2013

Police chief Abdul Ghani, who led an anti-Taliban campaign in Farah, is shot dead outside his house by gunmen on motorcycles.

Ten more police are killed in two additional attacks. Attack on a security post in Ghazni kills 6, and a second attack in the same area wounds 4. In Nangarhar, 4 police are killed in an roadside bomb attack.

Clash in Ghazni province said to kill one ANA and 5 rebels.

Taliban said to suppress an uprising against them in Ghor province, unverified claim is made that they have beheaded 15 people.

President Karzai to make 3 day trip to India starting Monday. In a move likely to further inflame tensions with Pakistan, he plans to ask for military aid.

AFP discusses the failure of parliament to ratify the presidential Emergency Violence Against Women decree. Conservative lawmakers objected to the ban on child marriage and more generally argued that it is contrary to Islamic law. The president says he will try to rally support and get the bill passed later.

British documentary examines the state of Afghanistan. "As the US and British forces plan to leave Afghanistan by 2014, 'This is What Winning Looks Like' investigates the current state of the country, shining a light on the disturbing ineptitude of the forces in power, as well as rampant child and drug abuse, suicide bombings, and rising casualties and death rates."

Remember Iraq? David Hirst in the Irish Times does:

[I]n this “democratic” Iraq, one community, the majority Shias – or, more precisely, one man, prime minister Nouri al-Maliki – have emerged just as dominant, within the ruling apparatus, over the other two as Saddam and his Sunnis were in the former, despotic Iraq. Maliki’s is essentially a Shia regime. And though he may be an “elected” ruler, he has turned into not much less of a despot than Saddam himself. Consummate manipulator of the grey areas of constitution and law, he has amassed a positively Saddam-like array of personal powers. 

On April 23rd, there came what may prove to have been a fundamental turning point. Government forces stormed a sit-in in the northern town of Hawija, resulting in 50 deaths, while helicopter gunships bombarded alleged Sunni insurgents in villages roundabout. The operation may have been designed to deter any resort to violence on the protesters’ part by hitting them first – and hard. If so, it had the opposite effect, and what Maliki calls the [Sunni] “sectarian conspiracy” began preparing itself for real war. 

War News for Saturday, May 18, 2013

The DoD is reporting a new death of an ISAF soldier previously unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Trenton L. Rhea died in a drowning incident in a combat situation in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 15th.

 

Family members believe a Utah County soldier missing in action in Afghanistan has been killed.
The family of Cody Towse said they were notified by a military representative Tuesday that their son was standing near an improvised explosive device when it went off, causing a massive blast.

Afghan parliament fails to pass divisive women's law

Blasts Kill Dozens of Iraqis as Sectarian Tensions Boil


Reported security incidents
#1: An official says motorcycle-riding gunmen have shot dead a police chief who led an anti-Taliban campaign in western Afghanistan in front of his house. Abdul Ghani was leaving his driveway in his car when the two raced up and opened fire in Farah province.

#2: Two bombs hidden in a motorcycle and a car exploded inside an elite gated community linked to the family of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 70 near the southern city of Kandahar, an official said. The blasts happened inside Aino Mina, a housing complex on the northern outskirts of the city that was developed in part by Mahmood Karzai, the president's younger brother. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but striking inside a powerful symbol of wealth and influence would be a publicity coup for the Taliban insurgency. Both the car bomb and the motorcycle were remotely detonated within minutes of each other while parked next to a restaurant area where families were dining, Kandahar government spokesman Javeed Faisal said. He had earlier said there was only one blast.

#3: Unidentified gunmen killed two Pakistani transporters in Bati Kot area of Afghanistan, some 35 kilometers from the Torkham border, sources said on Friday. They said a trailer (HR-8210) taking armoured personnel carriers was on its way to Afghanistan when it was ambushed at 8:30pm in Bati Kot area near Torkham border. The truck driver, identified as Anwar Khan, son of Zaman, a resident of Manyakhel in Jamrud tehsil, and his helper Tawab, son of Murad Gul, a resident of Mirdadkhel in Landikotal, were killed on the spot. The truck was also damaged in the attack, the sources said.

#4: Taliban militants ambushed a military convoy late Thursday in Pakistan's troubled northwestern city of Peshawar, killing two soldiers, security officials said. The incident took place as the convoy passed through Matani village on the outskirts of Peshawar, the main town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan which is rife with Taliban and Al-Qaeda-led militancy. "Militants opened fire on the military vehicles, two soldiers died and one sustained injuries in the attack," a military official in Peshawar told AFP, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media. A second security official in Peshawar confirmed the attack and told AFP that troops had cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

#5: A roadside bomb struck a tractor in the Yahya Khil district of Paktika province on Saturday, killing a civilian and injuring five others, spokesman for provincial administration Mukhlis Afghan said. "The tragic incident happened in Yahya Khil district at 07:00 a. m. local time and as a result the tractor driver was killed on the spot and five others including a mother and three children were injured," Mukhlis Afghan told Xinhua.

#6: An Afghan border police guard was killed and three others were injured during the first explosion which took place in eastern Khost city of Afghanistan. Provincial security chief Mohammad Yaqoub said around six Afghan civilians were also injured following the blast.


News: Civ. Michael Robert Bradford

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Trenton L. Rhea

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey C. Baker

DoD: Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling

DoD: Spc. William J. Gilbert

War News for Friday, May 17, 2013

New issue of al Qaeda magazine may have been hacked -

I never even imagined there was such a thing as an Al Qaeda magazine but with the digital age it doesn’t surprise me. – whisker

Reported security incidents
#1: update: Two NATO drivers were killed when gunmen opened fire on supply trucks passing through northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, local officials said. The News quoted local official Asmatullah Wazir as saying, that the first driver was killed in the Jamrud area of Khyber by two motorcycle-borne gunmen.

#2: In a separate attack, gunmen opened fire on another NATO supply truck in a suburb of Peshawar, killing its driver, senior police official Muhammad Faysal Murad said. Murad said the truck was empty and had returned from Afghanistan after delivering supplies.

#3: Eleven insurgents have been killed in military operations in eastern Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) on Friday morning. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed 11 insurgents, detained three suspected insurgents, discovered one weapons cache and found and safely cleared seven improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The operations were conducted in Ghazni, Laghman, Nangarhar, Paktika and Wardak provinces, the release added.

#4: At least twelve persons were killed and dozens other injured when two blasts hit two mosques in Malakand before the Friday prayers, FP News desk reported. According to Levies sources, twin blasts hit mosques in Bazdara Bala area of Malakand Agency where 12 persons were killed and 25 others wounded.

#5: About four people were killed in blast which ripped through the weapons market of Mir Ali Bazaar, North Waziristan. According to officials, the security forces rushed to the scene soon after explosion took place in morning and the blast could be result of stored explosive material in weapon market. They also added that investigations were undergoing to find nature of blast. A fire broke out in the market because of the explosion.

War News for Thursday, May 16, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from a roadside bombing attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 14th.

 

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a suicide roadside bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, May 16th. Four contractors were also killed in the blast. News reports that a suicide vehicle attacked a NATO convoy which also killed and wounded numerous Afghanis.

Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen on Thursday killed the driver of a NATO supply truck driving through northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, local officials said. The shooting took place in the Jamrud area of Khyber. "Two gunmen on a motorcycle fired at a NATO truck and killed its driver," local government official Asmatullah Wazir told AFP.

#2: At least 17 government armed oppositions were killed during a clearance operation launched by the Afghan security forces in some areas of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said Thursday. Provincial police chief, Hussain Mashreqiwal told Wakht News Agency that the Afghan security forces including police, army and NDS have attended the operations coordinated with the coalition troops that launched in some districts of the province, he said.

War News for Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Afghan Commandos Step Up Their Combat Role


Reported security incidents
1: Two bombs exploded at a checkpoint outside a provincial governor's compound in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one police officer, an official said. The explosions struck in the early morning in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. The first bomb wounded a policeman, and the second was remotely detonated minutes later as police swarmed to the blast scene to secure it. The second explosion killed one police officer and wounded at least five policemen and three civilian passers-by who were on their way to a nearby park, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor

#2: Thirty-five Taliban militants have been killed and 30 others wounded during operation across Afghanistan within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Wednesday afternoon. "Afghan police supported by the army and NATO-led coalition forces launched several cleanup operations in Kunduz, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces over the past 24 hours. As a result 22 armed Taliban were killed, 23 wounded and seven other armed Taliban were arrested," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. Earlier on Wednesday, 13 Taliban militants were killed and seven wounded when the police forces conducted an operation in Kamdish district in the country's eastern province of Nuristan, the ministry added. It also said that a policeman was killed and another policeman was wounded in the operations which began at around 2:00 a.m. local time Wednesday in the province 180 km east of Kabul.

#3: Six insurgents have been killed and five others detained in military operations in eastern Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces Wednesday morning. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed six insurgents, detained five suspected insurgents, discovered one weapons cache and found and safely cleared five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The operations were conducted in Ghazni, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Paktia, Paktika and Parwan provinces, the release added.

War News for Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The Georgian MoD is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. News reports that a suicide truck bomb killed three soldiers and wounded others at a fob in Helmand province on Tuesday, May 14th. Here’s the ISAF release.

Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle ripped through a crowded Afghan market in on Tuesday, killing at least three people, officials said. The motorcycle bomb hit a market in Safar, a village 70 kilometres (40 miles) from the district centre of Garamser in volatile Helmand province, said Omer Zawak, the spokesman for the provincial governor. Three people were killed and seven were wounded in the blast, said Zawak.

#2: The attack late Monday on the Americans was the second that targeted international troops in Afghanistan that day. According to NATO spokesman Maj. Bryan Woods, a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a U.S. Special Operation Forces convoy as it was returning to base after clearing land mines north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Woods said there were no casualties in that attack in Kapisa province. He said as the bomber targeted the U.S. convoy, insurgents started firing at it. Qais Qadri, spokesman for the Kapisa governor, said one civilian was killed in the attack, but Woods could not confirm the civilian death, saying only that the special forces returned safely to their base "after engaging the enemy."

#3: Eleven Taliban militants have been killed, five wounded and eight others arrested in military operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday morning. "Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army, intelligence agency and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Parwan, Kunduz, Kandahar, Logar, Herat and Helmand provinces, killing 11 armed Taliban militants, wounding five and capturing eight other suspects over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.


GEO/MoD: Junior Sergeant Zviad Davitadze

GEO/MoD: Corporal Alexandre Kvitsinadze

GEO/MoD: Corporal Vladimer Shanava

War News for Monday, May 13, 2013

Afghans Say an American Tortured Civilians


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has hit a bus and killed 10 civilians, mostly women and children, in the south of the country. Kandahar province's police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq said the Monday blast wounded another 12 people in Maroof district, roughly 60 kilometers (36 miles) northeast of Kandahar city.

#2: Balochistan Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Sukhera narrowly escaped a suicide attack on Sunday that killed at least six people and wounded 46 others, officials said. IGP Sukhera had just entered his residence in Quetta when a suicide bomber in a vehicle laden with explosives blew themselves up outside. "At least two policemen, three paramilitary soldiers and one passerby were killed outside the inspector general's residence and 46 others were wounded," Home Secretary Akbar Durrani told AFP.

#3: According to reports at least two Afghan civilians were killed during a night time military operation by NATO-led coalition security forces in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan. Local officials in Kandahar province confirming the report said coalition security forces have also detained at least four Afghan civilians during the operation which was conducted in Arghandab district.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 12, 2013

Cross-border shelling by Pakistani military kills one child, injures five people, in Kunar province. There are said to have been two separate barrages, of 30 and 35 missiles, in different locations.

District attorney for Marjah, Helmand province, is killed by an IED. Lal Mohammad's vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb while he was on his way to work.

An Afghan delegation will visit Iran today  to investigate what they claim are killing of numerous Afghan laborers who entered Iran illegally from Farah province.

Ten Afghan migrants are said to have been killed by Iranian border guards in Herat.

Two Afghan diplomats are killed, along with others, in an explosion in Peshawar, Pakistan. It does not seem they were targeted -- the target is said to have been a nearby police van.

In a further indication of the historical tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, president Karzai condemns a deadly attack on the offices of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Karachi. This is an ethnically based Pashtun party. As we noted last week, the border between the two nations, drawn by the British in 1893, divides the Pashtun homeland.

Karzai meets with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. He repeats his demand that the U.S. hand over its Afghan prisoners in Guantanamo to Afghanistan, and reiterates that Afghanistan does not recognize the "Durand Line," the border with Pakistan.

War News for Saturday, May 11, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Unidentified kidnappers have abducted 11 Afghans working in a U.N.-affiliated landmine clearing program in the east of the country, officials said Saturday. The 11 were taken Thursday in a remote part of Nangarhar province, said Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, provincial police spokesman. He did not name the abductors but said local officials and tribal elders were trying to negotiate the mine clearers’ freedom.

#2: An Afghan official says a bomb has killed a senior provincial intelligence official at his home in a remote northeastern corner of the country. Mohammed Zahir, spokesman for Nuristan's governor, said the province's deputy intelligence chief Faiz Mohammed died Saturday. It wasn't immediately known how the bomb was detonated but Mohammed was the only casualty.

#3: Units of Afghan police have eliminated more than two dozen Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. "The national police backed by the national army and NATO-led coalition forces have killed 26 armed Taliban rebels and injured 13 others throughout the country over the past 24 hours," the statement added. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on police.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Kapisa province of Afghanistan, at least three people including a suicide bomber were killed and four others were injured following a suicide attack in Tagab district. Provincial governor spokesman, Qaisa Qadiri confirming the report said the incident took place on Friday afternoon after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a vehicle in Tetarkhel area.

War News for Friday, May 10, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: At least three security personnel and nine militants were killed on Friday during armed clashes in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of Kurram Agency, local media reported. The clashes started after a group of militants armed with heavy weapons stormed a check post of security forces in Para Chamkani area of Kurram Agency, one of the country's restive tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, local media reported quoting official sources. The attack was so sudden that the security personnel could not retaliate quickly and militants killed three security personnel present at the check post. Soon after the attack the quick response force rushed to site and cordoned off the whole area along with a gunship helicopter hovering over the area. The surrounded militants opened fire at the forces besides throwing hand grenades and launching rockets at the forces to make the way to flee from the area. In the cross fire, nine militants were killed and eight others injured while some of them succeeded in running away.

#2: At least three people were killed and 10 others injured on Friday in a bomb blast that targeted an election office in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan, local media reported. According to the local Urdu TV channel Dawn News, the blast took place near an election office of a political party in the Khwaja Jan market of Mirnanshah, a main town of North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The blast destroyed the election office and damaged a couple of nearby shops and killed three persons on the spot besides injuring 10 others.

#3: Taliban militants suffered heavy casualties during military operations in eastern Laghman province of Afghanistan, local officials said. Provincial security chief Gen. Fazal Ahmad Zhirzad confirming the report said at least fifteen Taliban militants were killed and around 20 others were wounded during the operations. The operations were launched by Afghan police forces with the support of coalition security forces, early Thursday morning in Gularam area in Alingar district and Mehtarlam city.

War News for Thursday, May 09, 2013

US wants to keep nine bases in Afghanistan: Karzai

NZ troops transport tonnes of supplies out of Afghanistan

Gunmen seize former PM Gilani’s son during Pakistan election rally

Pakistani court terms U.S. drone strikes against UN charter


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan police were accused of killing eight protesters at a demonstration on Wednesday as the U.S.-led coalition said it had opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct by NATO troops during an encounter with insurgents. Both incidents occurred in southern Afghanistan where violence has escalated in recent weeks after a Taliban announcement launching the start of its spring offensive. Villagers in the town of Maiwand said Afghan police opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators who were protesting raids that Afghan and NATO forces conducted in their village of Loye Karez two days earlier. Accounts differed as to whether the eight killed were unarmed protesters or militants. Ten other people were wounded.

#2: Elsewhere in southern Afghanistan, three people were killed when their vehicle triggered an explosive device in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Another six people were injured.

#3: The Taliban subordinated individuals hidden inside the protestors in Kandhar’s anti-Pakistani incursion exploded three electricity towers in Maiwand district, an official said Thursday. Governor spokesman, Jaweed Faisal in a statement said that misusing the feeling of the outreached Afghans a number of the insurgents’ affiliated individuals turned the protest violent, blowing three electricity towers and blazing some provincial installations in Maiwand district.

#4: According to local authorities in western Farah province of Afghanistan, at least six Afghan security forces were killed and four others were injured following Taliban militants ambush. A local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the incident took place on Tuesday after Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of the Afghan security forces in Karwangah area at Bala Bolok district.

War News for Wednesday, May 08, 2013

NATO investigating allegations of misconduct by its soldiers in southern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Fifteen persons were injured when an explosion occurred in the main market area of Hangu while casualties are also feared, FP News desk reported. According to police, a blast occurred in the main market area of Hangu where 15 persons have been injured while casualties are also expected.

Two people were killed and 23 others were wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber crashed his explosives-packed car into a barrier outside a police station in Bannu district. “Two people including one woman and a policeman have been killed in the suicide attack near Domail police station in Bannu,” local police chief Abdul Ghafoor Afridi said.

#2: Three Afghan civilians were killed and five others were wounded Wednesday morning in a roadside bombing in the country's southern province of Helmand, said a provincial government spokesman. "A civilian vehicle was traveling along a road to a local marketplace in Nahri Sarraj district at around 7:30 a.m. local time. The ill-fated vehicle ran over a roadside bombing, leaving the casualties," spokesman Omar Zhwak told Xinhua.

War News for Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Up to 11 civilians were wounded Tuesday in a bomb explosion in northern Afghan province of Faryab, authorities said. "An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a motorcycle was detonated in Ganja Bazaar area of Qaisar district at around 10 a.m. local time, injuring 11 civilian men," the provincial governor Mohammadullah Baktash told Xinhua.

#2: A roadside bomb struck a police van in Ghazni province 125 km south of Kabul on Tuesday killing four policemen and injuring another, spokesman for provincial administration Nabi Jan said. "A mine planted by anti-government militants struck a police van on Jabarwal area outside provincial capital the Ghazni city this morning killing four personnel of Public Order Police and wounded another," Nabi Jan told Xinhua.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian

DoD: Cpl. David M. Sonka

DoD: 1^stLt. Brandon J. Landrum

DoD: Staff Sgt. Francis G. Phillips IV

DoD: Spc. Kevin Cardoza

DoD: Spc. Thomas P. Murach

DoD: Spc. Brandon J. Prescott

War News for Monday, May 06, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Cross-border clashes flared on Monday between Afghan and Pakistani security forces for a second time in five days as Kabul and Islamabad engaged in a war of words over the porous frontier, officials said.

#2: Pakistani troops overran two militant hideouts and killed 16 insurgents after heavy overnight fighting at a flashpoint near the Afghan border in which two soldiers also died, the military said on Sunday. The fighting took place in the wake of a fresh military push in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber district, where the military has been targeting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militia who threaten the nearby northwestern city of Peshawar.

#3: Separately, a roadside bomb targeting a military convoy Sunday killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded three more in another tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. The bomb was planted on the road near Razmak, about 45 kilometres south of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, a notorious hub of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants, local security officials said.


DoD: Capt. Mark T. Voss

DoD: Capt. Victoria A. Pinckney

DoD: Tech Sgt. Herman Mackey III

News of the Day for Sunday, May 5, 2013

An Afghan soldier kills 2 ISAF service members in Western Afghanistan.

Five U.S. soldiers are killed by a roadside bomb in Maiwand, Kandahar on Saturday.

On German soldier is killed and one injured in fighting in Baghlan province. The soldiers called for air support during the incident and it is presumed that some insurgents were also killed but there is no specific information as yet. It seems the Germans were members of the "KSK" special forces "anti-terror" unit. (I.e., any Muslim who is fighting against westerners is by definition a "terrorist," even if they are soldiers on a battlefield.)

Four civilians are killed, 5 injured by a roadside bomb in Farah province.

ISAF says it has captured a senior insurgent leader named Jamal in Baghlan province. This seems unconnected to the incident in which the German soldier was killed.

President Karzai says Afghanistan does not recognize the Durand line, that is the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan originally drawn between British India and Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan in 1893. This is in the context of recent border clashes and emphasizes the continuing tension between the two countries. Karzai also appears to encourage the Taliban in the border region to attack Pakistani troops, if I read this correctly.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Pakistani troops kill 16 insurgents, suffering 2 deaths of their own, near the Afghan border.

Iraq Update: Khalid Mahmoud, writing for Asharq Al-Awsat, reports on growing calls for secession in the Sunni Arab regions.  However, this does not appears to be a popular position as of yet; continuing protests are demanding political and social equality from the Shiite-led regime.

War News for Saturday, May 04, 2013

The DoD is reporting the death of Staff Sgt. Michael H. Simpson who died in Landstuhl military hospital, Landstuhl, Germany on Wednesday, May 1st. He was wounded from an IED blast somewhere close to FOB Arian, Ghazni province, Afghanistan on Saturday, April 27th.

The DoD is reporting the deaths of two soldiers previously unreported by the military. Spc. Trinidad Santiago Jr. and Pfc. Charles P. McClure died from a vehicle accident in Camp Buehring, Kuwait on Thursday, May 2nd. They were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

 

Reported security incidents
#1: Eight militants were killed in security forces operations conducted here, while some unknown persons barging into the house of a tribal leader gunned him down, FP News desk reported Saturday.
Security sources said that operations were conducted at Qismat Tanga and Sheen Qamar areas of Upper Orakzai, which resulted in the death of eight militants besides the destruction of their three hideouts.

#2: Meanwhile, a landmine planted on the roadside at Bezoot area of Orakzai Agency exploded with a big bang, but fortunately no loss of life took place.

#3: On the other hand, some unknown persons barging into the house of tribal leader Haider Khan opened fire killing him on the spot at Sanober area of Tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency.

#4: Units of Afghan police ambushed and killed six armed Taliban militants in the southern Helmand province 555 km south of Kabul on Saturday, a local official confirmed. "Personnel of police laid ambush against a group of armed Taliban fighters in Sistani area of Marja district at noon time today killing six rebels on the spot," provincial administration spokesman Omar Zawak told Xinhua. There were no casualties on police, he contended. Taliban outfit has yet to make comment.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Michael H. Simpson

DoD: Spc. Trinidad Santiago Jr.

DoD: Pfc. Charles P. McClure

News: Civ. Rinku Summan

War News for Friday, May 03, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: A U.S. military aircraft is missing after taking off Friday in Kyrgyzstan, a Kyrgyz official said. The plane is from the Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan, according to Kylychbek Dosumbetov, the nation's Transport Ministry press secretary. A section of the airport is a U.S. air base that serves as a supply hub for forces in Afghanistan.

A U.S. military transport plane (refueling) carrying fuel crashed on Friday near the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, an official from Kyrgyzstan's Emergencies Minister said. "(The plane) caught fire in the air and crashed," the official said. The plane disappeared from radar near the Kyrgyz village of Chaldovar, 90 km (55 miles) from the U.S. airforce base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan, which U.S. forces maintain for operations in Afghanistan.

#2: Four militants, including a senior insurgent leader, were killed Friday when Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition troops launched an operation in northern province of Baghlan, according to coalition statement issued here. "An Afghan and coalition security force killed a senior insurgent leader, Jamal, who had ties to both the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Three other insurgents were killed and two insurgents detained during the operation in Burkah district, Baghlan province, today," the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.

#3: In addition, the joint forces also killed four insurgents and detained 12 other suspects during separate operations in eastern and southern provinces earlier in the day and Thursday, according to the statement.

#4: Units of Afghan national police have killed nearly five dozen Taliban militants across the conflict- ridden country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Thursday.