News of the day for Sunday, June 30, 2013

NATO air strike said to kill 4 insurgents in Kandahar province. The story is written unclearly, but it appears they had ambushed a security convoy.

Afghan national police kill the Taliban "district governor" in Nimroz, and one of his aides, according to a statement.

Three civilians killed, 2 injured in roadside bombing in Zabul.

British PM David Cameron is in Pakistan promoting Afghan peace efforts. Pakistani PM Sharif says he supports the peace effort.

Cameron was previously in Afghanistan, where he heard Hamid Karzai accuse of Pakistan of wanting to see Afghanistan divided into "fiefdoms." Excerpt:

Speaking at a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, President Karzai said that, "We have heard rumors and we have seen efforts by some countries...For six months, there have been efforts underway to bring fiefdoms to Afghanistan." The Afghan President claimed that these efforts were being spearheaded by the Taliban, as well as foreign elements on the group's behalf assisting in "handing over one or two places to the Taliban."

"We have reports of Pakistan making such efforts. I don't know what Pakistan's benefit is in following an agenda of week governance in Afghanistan," added Karzai.

Afghan defense ministry claims to have killed 50 Taliban in Nangarhar. As usual, one is not sure what to make of these announcements, in which Afghan forces never seem to suffer any casualties whatever, nor do civilians.


 

War News for Saturday, June 29, 2013

US wasting millions on Afghan aircraft

British troops won't leave Afghanistan until the end of the decade reveals senior commander as Cameron visits the frontline


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan authorities say a suicide car bomber has attacked a NATO convoy, killing two Afghan civilians. The Farah provincial governor's spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhawandi said Saturday a man and woman on a motorcycle riding near the convoy were killed when the attacker struck Friday evening. Five civilians were wounded. Coalition forces spokesman Capt. Luca Carniel says no NATO forces were hurt in the attack, but did provide medical assistance to the wounded civilians.

#2: Elsewhere, in central Oruzgan province, police spokesman Fareed Ayal said 20 Taliban fighters and one police officer were killed in an operation late Friday.
#3: At least one person was killed and four more were injured in a rocket attack on a house located in Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah’s hometown, Khairpur, early on Saturday morning, Geo News reported. The police said the assailants fired a rocket at a house in Kot Daiji near Shanbani village, which killed a local landholder, Abdul Sattar Shanbani, and left four other occupants wounded.

#4: Seven Pakistani Taliban killed in by Afghan Security Forces in Nuristan province yesterday. The Taliban killed   in the Kamdish district along Durand Line when a group of them attacked on a police security post in the area. A police official in the eastern province of Nuristan said BNA; seven Pakistani nationals were killed in Kamdish district. According to him, Taliban aiming to capture Afghan security posts cross the Durand line but repulsed by Afghan forces. Security officials of Nuristan confirmed that two Afghan troops were wounded in the clash.

 
 

War News for Friday, June 28, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, June 28th.


UK forces begin transfer of Afghan detainees


Reported security incidents
#1: At least three people including a woman were killed and ten others injured after unidentified men opened indiscriminate fire on shops in Kharadar, the old city area of Karachi on Friday. According to police, unidentified men riding on six motorcycles opened fires on shops near Mehran Bakery in Kharadar area, killing three people and injuring 10 others. A car and several shops also came under attack.
#2: Five Afghan civilians were killed as a roadside bomb struck a car in the eastern Laghman province on Thursday, a local official said. "A mine planted by militants struck a car in Omarzai area in the outskirt of provincial capital Mehterlam at around 03:00 p.m. local time today (Thursday), leaving five civilians dead and injured another," spokesman for provincial administration SarhadiZawak told Xinhua.

War News for Thursday, June 30, 2013

Two czechs woman kidnaped


Reported security incidents:
#1: Authorities say Taliban fighters ambushed a national police patrol in western Afghanistan, killing a commander and four of his men. Herat province police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said Thursday that Taliban fighters were believed to have been killed in the overnight attack, but that it was too dark to find any bodies.

#2: On the other side of the country in Ghazni province, deputy police commander Assadullah Ensafi said police ambushed a group of Taliban fighters and killed five, including a leader believed to have been responsible for making roadside bombs and organizing suicide attacks in the area.

#3: A potential suicide bomber was reportedly killed when the detonator, he was carrying, went off before hitting the major target, SSP Saddar said, Geo News reported. SSP Saddar said the person killed in Kachlak blast was suicide bomber, adding he was killed when his detonator went off prematurely.
#4: At least one person was killed and six others injured when a blast went off near Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Thursday morning, reported local media Dunya. According to the report, the blast took place at about 10:20 a. m. local time in Kuchlak, a town lying some 20 km to the northwest of Quetta, capital of Balochistan Province.

War News for Tuesday, June 26, 2013

Taliban’s Divided Tactics Raise Doubts Over Talks


Reported security incidents:
#1: At least one security man was killed and three others were injured in a remote-controlled blast in the Awaran district of Balochistan on Wednesday. Security officials told that a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy was on routine patrol when it was targeted with a roadside bomb planted by militants in the Mashkay area of Awaran district.

#2: Security officials have confirmed that four police officers were injured in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Paktia province early Wednesday. The incident took place in Gardez, capital of the province, when the police vehicle fell prey to a roadside bomb, said Rohullah Samoon, provincial governor spokesman.


US/DoD: Sgt. Corey E. Garver

War News for Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: An Italian C130 military aircraft drew light fire in Afghanistan Sunday morning as it made a tactical flight in the province of Farah. There were no injuries, and the airplane proceeded regularly with its mission to the Herat military airport. An investigation is underway into damage made to the airplane.

#2: The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul early on Tuesday. The attack began shortly after 6:30 a.m., when a group of gunmen emerged from a small white minibus not far from the Salam Khana Gate outside the heavily fortified palace and opened fire on presidential guards. These attacks included an assault by militants armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests on the military side of Kabul International Airport
 
#3: Afghan officials say a brazen Taliban assault on the presidential palace in Kabul has left three guards dead. The militant group had earlier said that all eight attackers died in the early Tuesday attack on one of the most secure parts of the Afghan capital. Militants with false papers and military-style uniforms bluffed their way through two checkpoints on their way to the palace before jumping out of their explosives-packed vehicle and opening fire on security personnel. Another carload of Taliban fighters got stuck between two checkpoints and detonated their own car bomb.

#4: Eight Afghan women and two children were killed and three other civilians were wounded Tuesday morning when a vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Kandahar, a source said.


US/DoD: Spc. Javier Sanchez Jr.

War News for Monday, June 24, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 23rd.

NATO is reporting the death of a second ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 23rd.

Reported security incidents
#1: Twenty-three militants have been killed in different provinces within the last 24 hours, said the Afghan Interior Ministry on Monday morning. "A series of cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul and Helmand provinces claimed the lives of 20 armed Taliban. Two Taliban wounded and four other armed Taliban were arrested," the ministry said in a press release providing daily operational updates. Afghan National Police (ANP), army, intelligence agency personnel and NATO-led coalition forces were involved in the raids, it noted.

#2: In addition, three Taliban members, including a local leader named Qari Dad Mohammad, were killed early Monday morning when an IED they were placing along a road in Langari area of the Kunduz city, the provincial capital of northern Kunduz province, went off prematurely, a police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husainni told Xinhua earlier Monday.

#3: A senior police officer and his driver have been shot dead in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, officials say. Amanullah Khan, a deputy superintendent, was in charge of traffic police in the city, the Associated Press news agency reports.

AU/DoD: Corporal Cameron Stewart Baird

News of the Day for Sunday, June 23, 2013

One Australian special forces soldier killed, 2 injured, in a gunfight in southern Afghanistan, apparently in Uruzgan. No further information as of now.

Seven Afghan National Police are killed in a roadside bombing in Uruzgan.

Interior Ministry claims 38 Taliban killed in various operations around the country. (As usual, the apparent absence of any casualties on the government side, and lack of any corroboration, make these claims dubious, at least as far as I'm concerned. -- C)

Afghan soldiers are training to be bomb disposal experts, but hundreds more must be trained in a hurry before ISAF forces depart.
 .
Twenty one kilograms of opium and more than a kilogram of heroin are seized  from a boat that entered Uzbekistan from Afghanistan via the Amu Darya. Much of Aghanistan's heroin production ultimately reaches Russia through central Asia.

It is still doubtful whether peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar will ever begin, as the dispute over the name of the Taliban office there continues to be an obstacle. (It's amazing how powerful these symbolic issues are. The Taliban have designated the office an embassy of their shadow government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Karzai government and the U.S., of course, do not recognize the existence of any such entity. Qatar says they only had permission to call the facility the "Afghan Taliban Political Office in Doha." Those old enough to remember Vietnam will recall that peace talks were delayed for months over the issue of the shape of the table.) Further discussion of the issue and the prospects for peace talks is here.

Two would-be bombers are killed as they attempt to plant a roadside bomb in Kandahar province.

Program Note

I'll be traveling tomorrow morning, so I won't get a post up until late afternoon eastern time. See y'all then.

War News for Saturday, June 22, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an enemy (attack) in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 22nd.


FBR Intelligence pulls the cover from missing containers scam


Reported security incidents

#1: Afghan authorities say Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints in a northern provincial capital, killing two members of a community-based security force. The officials claim 18 attackers died in the assault. Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, spokesman for Kunduz provincial police, said Saturday that the initial Taliban attack Friday in the provincial capital of the same name killed one member of the Afghan local police and wounded two. Hussaini says the Taliban then moved outside the city where a gun battle with Afghan security forces lasted until about midnight. He says 18 Taliban fighters and another local policeman were killed. Another 11 militants were wounded.

#2: A bomb explosion on Saturday killed two members of a Pakistani pro-government militia in a tribal region near the Afghanistan border, officials said. The explosion took place in Chamarkand town, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal region. "Two members of a pro-government tribal peace committee were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near them," local administration official, Ghulam Saeedullah told AFP. He said that the men were inspecting the site of an earlier IED blast when a second device went off.

#3: Fourteen militants have been killed in operations in eastern Afghanistan, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Saturday. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed 14 enemies of Afghanistan, detained three suspected enemies of Afghanistan, discovered one weapons cache and found and safely cleared four 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 launched in eastern Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Pawran and Wardak provinces, the release noted, saying nine of the militants were killed in Paktika province.

#4: At least eight government armed oppositions were killed when the security forces overpowered the insurgents resisting the forces in an overnight light and heavy arms fire exchange in eastern province of Nangarhar, the alliance said Saturday. The incident took place in Achin district of the province, where the commandos from the 1st Special Operations Kandak killed eight insurgents, said the source in a statement. Insurgents opened fire with rocket propelled grenades and PKMs as Commandos conducted a clearing operation in Mohmand valley, near the Shadel Bazaar. The Commandos immediately returned fire and overpowered the enemy fighters, killing eight.

War News for Friday, June 21, 2013

Chomsky terms surveillance an attack on US citizens - snip -  “Governments should not have this capacity. But governments will use whatever technology is available to them to combat their primary enemy – which is their own population,” he said in an interview.

IOM worker injured in Kabul May 24 dies


Reported security incidents
#1: Militants armed with guns and rockets killed two members of a Pakistani pro-government militia and wounded two policemen in a tribal district on the Afghanistan border, officials said Friday. About a dozen insurgents attacked the homes of two tribal elders near Khar, the main town in Bajaur, late Thursday, administration official Abdul Haseeb said. The two elders, who were members of a pro-government tribal militia, were killed and two tribal policemen were wounded, Haseeb told AFP.

#2: A bomb attack has killed 14 people and wounded more than 25 others at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque and seminary on the outskirts of Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, police say. "It was a suicide attack in which 14 people were killed and more than 25 others were wounded," senior police official Shafi Ullah told AFP at the scene on Friday. "The suicide bomber, who was on foot, first opened fire at police guards who were deployed outside the mosque, then entered the prayer hall where he blew himself up amid worshippers just before the start of prayers."

#3: Afghan police backed by the units of the national army eliminated over two dozen Taliban militants including some commanders in the eastern Nangarhar province, 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday, Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday. "Personnel of national police backed by the army raided Taliban hideouts in Achin district of Nangarhar province late Thursday night killing 25 rebels including eight local commanders," the statement said.

#4: According to local authorities in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, Taliban militants have beheaded two Afghan security forces along with their two family members in this province.

Provincial governor Basir Salangi confriming the report said, “Taliban militants beheaded an Afghan intelligence officer along with a member of his family, and an Afghan police officer together with his brother.”

 

 

US/DoD: Sgt. Justin R. Johnson

 

US/DoD: Spc. Ember M. Alt
 

US/DoD: Spc. Robert W. Ellis
 

US/DoD: Spc. William R. Moody

War News for Thursday, June 20, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from an indirect fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 19th. News reports that a mortar/rocket attack in Bagram air base killed four soldiers.


Taliban demanding five senior operatives before opening peace talks. - snip - The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. army soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.

Talks between U.S., Taliban on Afghan war expected 'in the next few days'

Family identifies Carson soldier killed in Afghanistan

Scrapping equipment key to Afghan drawdown - snip - Military planners have determined that they will not ship back more than $7 billion worth of equipment — about 20 percent of what the U.S. military has in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Militants ambushed an army convoy in northwest Pakistan late on Wednesday killing six soldiers and wounding two others, military officials said. The vehicles were patrolling the Matani area, 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of Peshawar - the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province - when they came under attack. "Militants used rockets and small arms and an exchange of fire continued for about 15 minutes," a military official said.

#2-3: At least three people including one national directorate for security (NDS) personnel and a teacher were killed, when a roadside mine went off in Jalalabad, the capital city of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said Thursday. The incident took place early this morning, when a mine blew up in Zoorabad area of the city leaving three people killed, police chief spokesman, Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal told Wakht News Agency.

In the same area, another mine blast killed one people and wounded two others including NDS personnel the vehicle of whom struck the mine said an eyewitness on condition of anonymity.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Logar province of Afghanistan, at least nine Taliban militants were killed following a US airstrike in this province. The officials further added that the airstrike was carried out in Pul-e-Alam district on Wednesday night. Deputy provincial security chief Gen. Raees Khan Abdul Rahimzai confirming the report said the militants were killed in Alozai area in Pul-e-Alam district. Mr. Abdul Rahimzai further added Afghan national army soldiers also arrested at least six Taliban militants from the same area. He said at least eight Pakistani Taliban militants and seven Afghan militants were killed in a separate operation at Baraki Barak district.

#5: According to local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, at least five Afghan Local Police (ALP) officers were killed following an insider attack in this province. The incident reportedly took place in Greshk district at Zambuli area check post after an Afghan Local Police (ALP) officer shot dead his five comrades.

War News for Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Afghan forces take over security from Nato

Afghan forces formally take over security of country. Now what?

Afghan Forces Struggle as U.S. Weans Them Off Support

NATO to stop combat operations in Afghanistan: chief

Canadian soldiers leave for final mission in Afghanistan

Innocent civilians killed in drone attacks: Masood Khan

US will buy Russian helicopters for Afghan military: Pentagon


Reported security incidents
#1: Three civilians died in a blast in western Kabul Tuesday ahead of the NATO transfer of responsibility for security to Afghan forces, officials said. Gen. Mohammad Daud Amin, Kabul's deputy police chief, said intended target Mohammad Mohaqiq, a lawmaker and former cabinet member from the minority Hazara community, survived the attack, but at least four bodyguards were among the nearly two dozen people wounded, the Los Angeles Times reported.

#2: Afghan Taliban say that they have shot down a helicopter of ISAF forces in western Afghanistan, but officials say that the helicopter made an emergency landing, reports said Tuesday. The Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousaf Ahmadi, said that the Taliban shot down the foreign forces’ helicopter during a clash in the Garani area in Balabolok District of Farah Province late Monday, the Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] reported.

#3: Terrorists attacked two check posts in North Waziristan and killed two security men early Tuesday morning, Geo News reported. According to sources, two security check posts came under attack by the terrorists early Tuesday morning in North Waziristan where two security men were killed. The roads leading to the attacked checkpoints were closed for all sorts of traffic soon after the incident. On the other hand, seven terrorists were killed when two terror groups clashed with each other near Kohat while two others were injured. The area is still gripped with tension.


US DoD: Lance Cpl. Jared W. Brown

War News for Monday, June 17, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from non-combat relater injuries in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 16th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Roadside bomb attacks killed 10 Afghan soldiers ahead of the handover this week of full security responsibility for the country, the Defence Ministry said on Monday, dpa reported. "Five soldiers were killed in Kandahar, Logar and Badkhshan provinces while five others were killed in Helmand province in roadside bombings," the ministry said in a statement without giving further details. The date of the attacks was not stated.

#2: Meanwhile, a provincial police chief escaped unhurt in a suicide attack Monday in the southern province of Helmand, but two of his bodyguards and two civilians were injured, a spokesman for the governor said. "The attacker detonated his explosives-laden car close to the convoy of Mohammad Nabi Elham this morning in Lashkargah city, as he was on the way to his office," Omar Zwak said. "Elham was not hurt, but two of his bodyguards in the second car and two civilian passersby were wounded," Zwak told dpa.

#3: Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-guns into a convoy carrying goods to the Afghan capital on Monday, killing three drivers and wounding two others, an official said. Two of the container trucks caught fire and burned from the grenade blasts at about 2:30 a.m. on the main highway about 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of Kabul, said Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for Laghman province where the attack took place.

#4: Casualties were feared as an explosion and ensuing firing hit the house of the provincial governor in northern Afghan province of Jawzjan on Monday, authorities and witnesses said.

News of the Day for Sunday, June 16, 2013

Three civilians are killed by a roadside bomb in Uruzgan. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. Other accounts give the death toll as 4, in what appears to be the same incident.

Taliban leader Motasim Agha Jan tells TOLO the Taliban are ready to negotiate for peace. He says they do not want to seize power but will accept the results of elections. He also implies that he represents a "moderate" faction and that there is a faction which is not prepared to negotiate.

In a somewhat omninous speech to the Afghan parliament, Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdoom Raheen says he will shortly disclose the names of media organizations and journalists that are "insulting the country's respected personalities and their broadcasting is un-Islamic." There appears to be considerable controversy in parliament over the basic principle of media freedom.

The final phase of talks to complete a U.S.-Afghan security agreement will begin in a few days.

A review of "Investment in Blood," by Frank Ledwidge: "Frank Ledwidge was a “justice adviser” in Britain’s para-colonial administration in Helmand. As well as spending 15 years as a naval reserve officer, he once practised as a barrister – and it shows. In a closely argued book, he produces a devastating indictment of the utter, unanswerable folly of Britain’s military intervention in southern Afghanistan. If those of us complicit in the error were ever brought to justice, this would be the case for our prosecution." He alleges that Britain did not even attempt to count the civilian casualties from the intervention; and that the enormous expenditure of treasure in Afghanistan was for no good purpose at all.

Hamid Karzai endorses Pakistani president Prime Minister (of course) Nawaz Sharif's call for an end to U.S. drone attacks in Afghanistan.

A mob attacked a doctor and his female patient in Sar-I-Pul, after it was found that he had treated her without a chaperone present. There are conflicting reports over whether the doctor was stoned to death, or had escaped with injuries.

War News for Saturday, June 15, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: A roadside bomb struck a police van in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing five police as they were on their way to a training session, authorities said. Seven other police were wounded in the early morning blast in Paktika province, a statement from the provincial governor's office said.

#2: An Afghan border protection police officer was killed following cross-border shelling by Pakistan in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan on Friday. Pakistani military started shelling Maruf district in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan on Friday afternoon, 1TV News reported. Provincial security chief Gen. Abdul Razaq said a civilian worker was killed and two Afghan border police officers were injured after a missile hit an Afghan check post.

#3: Five Taliban militants were killed and two coalition security forces were injured following clashes in central Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan, local officials said. provincial security commandment following a statement confirmed the report and said the clashes took place on Thursday in Syedabad district.

War News for Friday, June 14, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Two children were killed in a mortar attack in eastern Afghan province of Wardak overnight, police said on Friday. "Two mortars fired by anti-government militants stroke a residence in Jaghato district Thursday night. Two children were killed, one woman and one man were seriously wounded," the provincial police said in a press statement. The apparent target of the attack was the nearby district administrative headquarters, it noted.

#2: Head of the provincial media department in Badghis province, Mirwais Mirzakwal said at least three Afghan national army soldiers were killed after a convoy of the Afghan soldiers vehicles struck with a roadside bomb in Bala Morghab district.

#3: In a separate incident at least two Afghan civilians were killed in Robat Sangi district of western Herat province. The two civilians were killed after their motorcycle struck with a roadside bomb in Arbab Shamsuddin area on Thursday night.

#4: In Gulran district of Herat province, an Afghan police officer was killed and another officer was injured following a roadside bomb explosion after their vehicle struck with an improvised explosive device planted by militants.

War News for Thursday, June 13, 2013

The US/DoD is reporting the death of a soldier previously unreported by the military. Staff Sgt. Jesse L. Thomas Jr. died from unreported causes somewhere in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, June 10th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Six Afghan policemen were found shot at their checkpoint in the country's south and two other policemen were missing, raising suspicions they killed their comrades, an official said Thursday. District chief Nayamatullah Samim said that the policemen's bodies were discovered in the shelter near their checkpoint Wednesday night in Musa Qala district of Helmand province, after they did not check in with their superiors. Two other officers assigned to the checkpoint were missing, along with vehicles and weapons.

#2: Afghan security forces raided a Taliban hideout in northern Afghan province of Kunduz, killing seven militants including a shadowy district governor on Thursday, a local official said. "The security forces including police stormed a hideout of Taliban rebels in Dasht-e-Archi district at around 03:00 a.m. local time today, leaving seven militants including Qari Mohammad Halim, the shadowy governor of the district dead," Hamid Agha the district police chief, told Xinhua. There were no casualties on security forces, he added.


DoD: Lt. Col. Todd J. Clark

DoD: Maj. Jaimie E. Leonard

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jesse L. Thomas Jr.

War News for Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Two Georgian military bases closed in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

#1: A motorcycle bomb killed an Afghan soldier and a civilian Wednesday and wounded 15 other people in southern Afghanistan, officials said, according to The Associated Press. The blast was near a market in Helmand province's heavily contested Sangin district, local police chief Ghulam Ali said, adding that three soldiers, one local police officer and 11 civilians were among the wounded.

 

#2: Militants in eastern Afghanistan attacked a NATO convoy carrying supplies on Tuesday night, killing two Afghan police officers and two truck drivers, provincial deputy police chief Asadullah Insafi said.

 

#3: Three insurgents were also killed in the attack in the eastern province of Ghazni, Insafi said.

 

#4: A Taliban suicide car bomber yesterday targeted staff at Afghanistan’s top court, killing 15 civilians and wounding 40 others in the second attack in two days in the heavily fortified capital, police said. Women and children were among those killed and injured in the powerful explosion at the entrance to the Supreme Court, near the US embassy as buses waited to take court staff home at the end of the working day, officials said.

 

#5: Eight insurgents had been killed and 14 detained in military operations since early Tuesday, the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Wednesday morning. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed eight enemies of Afghanistan, detained 14 suspected enemies of Afghanistan and found and safely cleared nine improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press statement. The operations were conducted in eastern Paktiya, Paktika, Nangarhar, Wardak and Ghanzi province, the statement noted.

 

#6: The 4th Special Operations Kandak of the Afghan National Army Special Forces and Afghan National Army soldiers killed seven armed insurgents and reduced homemade explosives in Bala Baluk district, Farah Province, June 10. The combined forces were conducting a cordon and search operation to deny insurgents a safe haven in Shewan village. Insurgents attacked the Commandos and ANA with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

 

#7: According to reports a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) helicopter made an emergency landing in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan. Officials in Kandahar provincial governor office confirmed that the helicopter made emergency landing. In the meantime Taliban group claimed that the helicopter was shot down by Taliban fighters. International Secrurity Assistance Force (ISAF) confirming the report said, “A coalition aircraft conducted a hard landing in southern Afghanistan today. Currently no casualties have been reported.”

War News for Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Taliban surge expected to continue

Taliban release Kyrgyzstan national abducted in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Eight Taliban militants had been killed and 12 others wounded following a clash in the southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, the police said on Tuesday. "Militants numbered 25 launched an armed attack on Afghan National Police (ANP) checkpoints in Nahri Sarraj district on Monday, triggering a two-hour gunfight. As a result eight Taliban were killed and 12 others wounded," a senior provincial police source Abdul Satar Noorzai told Xinhua. Two militants were detained and no member of the ANP was harmed in the clash in the province, 555 km south of National capital Kabul, Noorzai added.


News: Civ. Joseph Morabito

It/MoD: Cap. Giuseppe La Rosa

War News for Monday, June 10, 2013

The Polish DND is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in Ghazni province, Afghanistan on Monday, June 10th. Here’s the ISAF release.


TAMU Graduate Killed In Afghanistan

String of bombings kill 12 in Iraq market: officials


Reported security incidents
#1: Militants attacked NATO supply trucks in northwest Pakistan with guns and mortars on Monday, setting vehicles ablaze and killing at least six people, officials said. The attack took place in Khyber district, one of seven tribal areas on the Afghan border that are a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked insurgents. Up to 20 armed militants targeted at least three Afghanistan-bound vehicles loaded with military equipment, said senior administration official Jehangir Azam. "At least three NATO vehicles caught fire, four people died on the spot and two wounded in the attack expired later in hospital," Azam told AFP. Another official , Asmatullah Wazir, said four NATO vehicles were hit and three of them caught fire in the attack in the Shagai area, 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Landi Kotal, the district's main town.

#2: At least seven heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked near Afghanistan's main airport Monday, apparently trying to attack NATO's airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and at least one large bomb. Security forces engaged in an hours-long battle and killed all the attackers. Kabul police said in an announcement that attackers wearing suicide vests had occupied one or two buildings under construction on the west side of the airport and were firing at the military facility, which was quite a distance away. But it was uncertain if they actually managed to hit anything inside the airport.

#3: The security forces have killed 35 terrorists and injured 15 during operations in Khyber Agency's Tirah Valley and Kurram Agency. According to the ISPR, one soldier was killed and five others sustained injuries in the encounters during the last two days. After the clearance of Muhammadi Top in Kurram and Haider Kandao in Tirah Valley, the security forces made significant gains on the nights of the sixth, seventh, and eighth of this months, and cleared main areas of Maidan. The forces took full control of heights on the central Derastani Ridge that overlooks the entire Maidan and Kukikhel Valley.

#4: Meanwhile, three soldiers were killed and four wounded in bomb attacks on military convoys in North Waziristan on Sunday, officials said. "A military convoy comprising 35 vehicles was on its way to the northwestern town of Bannu from Razmak when an improvised explosive device planted along the roadside went off, killing three soldiers," a local intelligence official said. The official, who requested anonymity, said two soldiers were wounded in the explosion 70 kilometres south of Miranshah, the main town in the region. Another two soldiers were wounded in a second bomb attack on a military convoy 20 kilometres east of Miranshah. According to official sources, militants targeted the convoy with an IED and two rockets. A local tribal police official, Ali Muhammad, confirmed the two attacks and casualties.

#5: A suicide bomber blew himself up Monday in Zabul's provincial capital Qalat, killing six people, police said.


Pol/DnD: Plut. Jan Kiepura

News of the Day for Sunday, June 9, 2013

President Karzai demands that British forces hand over all Afghan prisoners they hold by June 22. (UK forces hold prisoners in Helmand province.) However, legal challenges in British court to the transfer, based on allegations of mistreatment in Afghan prisons, will cause long delays. This sets the stage for months of confrontation between the Afghan and British governments.

Meanwhile, Karzai has left for Qatar with a high-level delegation to attend the 10th annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum. While he is there, he is expected to talk with Qatari officials about the prospect of opening negotiations with the Taliban through their office in Doha.

Germany opens a consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif. Germany has troops in the relatively peaceful northern part of the country and plans to leave some 600 to 800 there after 2014.

Pakistan hosts a trilateral meeting in Lahore with U.S. and Afghan top military leadership to discuss border security. No word on any outcome from the meeting, or even what specifically they talked about.

Anna Badkhen discusses the continuing oppression of Afghan women  and the failure of Western humanitarian aid and political engagement to make a meaningful difference.

War News for Saturday, June 08, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an ANA insider attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 8th. News reports the attack was in Paktika province.

 

The Italian Defense ministry is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack somewhere in Farah province, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 8th. Three additional Italian soldiers were wounded in the attack. Here's the NATO release.

Reported security incidents
#1: A man wearing Afghan army uniform killed three soldiers in one attack in Paktika province, close to the border with Pakistan. In the incident close to the Pakistan border, Afghan sources told the BBC that when the man in Afghan army uniform opened fire, other international troops fired back.

#2: Meanwhile, the Nato-led coalition said the soldier killed in western Afghanistan had been killed "during an attack by an enemy of Afghanistan". Three other Italian soldiers were reported wounded. A Lynx vehicle was attacked as it returned to base as part of a Military Adviser Team convoy after training Afghan security forces, Italy's defence ministry said.

#3: A US drone strike Friday killed seven militants in northwest Pakistan, the first since Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister this week calling for an end to such attacks, local officials said. The missiles hit a compound in Shokhel village, more than 100 kilometres southwest of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district that is known as a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants. "The US drone fired two missiles targeting a militant compound and killing at least seven militants," a senior local security official told AFP. Another official confirmed the strike and casualties but said the identities of those killed were not yet known.

#4: Units of Afghan police backed by the army and NATO-led forces have eliminated 53 Taliban militants during a series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Friday. "In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army and the Coalition Forces in Kunar, Nangarhar, Nooristan, Jowzjan, Zabul, Uruzgan, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Khost, Paktiya and Helmand provinces, as a result 53 armed Taliban were killed, nine wounded and eight other armed Taliban were arrested," the statement said. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on security forces. Taliban militants have yet to make comment.

War News for Friday, June 07, 2013

The Georgian MoD is reporting the deaths of seven ISAF soldiers from a SVIED attack at a base somewhere in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Thursday, June 7th. News reports that the attack was around 5 PM. local time and the military base was in the Anzar Shali area of Naw Zad district. Here’s the ISAF release.

Reported security incidents
#1: An Australian Special Forces soldier has been wounded during a partnered mission in Oruzgan province in Afghanistan. The soldier was shot and wounded during a joint operation with Afghan National Security Forces 45km northwest of Tarin Kowt on Thursday.

#2: update Security sources told media that police backed by personnel of Frontier Corps (FC) raided Kharotabad area of provincial capital following a tip-off that some members of a banned outfit were present in a house in Killi Barat area of Kharotabad, in the outskirts of Quetta. "Security personnel surrounded the house early in the morning and asked the accused to surrender, upon which the accused attacked security personnel with hand grenades, rockets and heavy weapons," they said, adding that 15 security personnel, including an officer were injured. Some of the injured were identified as Lieutenant Colonel Bilal Ahmed, Lance Naik Abdul Samad, Sepoy Shafi, Salam, Nazeer Ahmed, Nadeem, Inayat ullah and Arid.
 
Sources said that security personnel fired back in retaliation due to which five people, including two accused, two women and a child, who were inside the house were killed. "The militants blew themselves up with detonators to avoid arrest avoiding which left two women and a child dead," claimed security officials. Sources said that four members of an intelligence agency were also injured in the attack. People of the area told media that the firing started at midnight and continued till morning with intervals. "We also heard heavy explosions that rocked the entire area and spread panic among the people," they added. DIG Operation Fayyaz Sumbal told media that law enforcement agencies faced strong resistance for about 5 hours, adding that over 20 explosions occurred which also included four Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts.
#3: A roadside bomb attack targeting police in northwest Pakistan  on Thursday killed two officers and wounded three others, police said. The improvised explosive device (IED) exploded when the officers were on a routine patrol in the Daudzai suburb of Peshawar, killing two of them on spot, senior police official Shafiullah Khan told AFP.

#4: A suicide car bomb went off near a NATO base in Naw Zad district in southern Afghan province of Helmand on Thursday evening, causing casualties, said an official. "A militant rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the gate of the foreign forces' military base in Anzar Shali area of Naw Zad district at around 5 p.m. local time, causing casualties," the district administrative chief, Seyad Murad, told Xinhua. Murad said that a joint team has launched an investigation into the incident and details will be released afterward. Meanwhile, a provincial police official told Xinhua anonymously that the blast killed three Georgian soldiers of the coalition and injuring six other Georgian troops.

#5: According to local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, at least three civilians were killed following a drone strike in this province. Provincial governor Fazlullah Wahidi said the airstrike was carried out on Wednesday night in a residential area in Manogi district. Mr. Wahidi further added at least three civilians including two boys and a girl were killed and six others including two women were injured.


Geo/MoD: Corporal Ortavidze Teimuraz

Geo/MoD: Corporal Adamov Giorgi

Geo/MoD: 1st Class Private Gurgenashvili Zurab

Geo/MoD: Private Narindoshvili Mikheil

Geo/MoD: Private Tsugoshvili Boris

Geo/MoD: 1st Class Private Sulkhanishvili Zviad.

Geo/MoD: 1st Class Private Giorgi Ghuchashvili

War News for Thursday, June 06, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: One man was killed and 13 others were wounded during a bomb blast in a hotel in northern Sar-i-Pul province on Thursday morning. Brig. Gen. Abdur Rauf Taj, the provincial police chief, said the explosion happened inside the hotel located in the Minar Square of the city. With the cause of the blast under investigation, witness Haji Sadruddin told "Pajhwok" Afghan News three people had been killed in the heavy explosion.

#2: Two alleged attackers were killed and fifteen security personnel were injured when police and Rangers launched an operation early Thursday in Kharotabad area, Geo News reported. According to DIG Ahmed Mubeen, police, Rangers and other law enforcement agencies launched a search operation in kharotabad area in the wee hours. During the search, the culprits present in the area opened fire on the security personnel, leaving 15 cops injured. DIG Ahmed Mubeen told that during the exchange of fire, two culprits blew themselves with explosives. The area was declared clear after the law enforcement agencies completed the search operation.

#3: As many as five soldiers of the Pakistan Army were killed and six others injured when an oil tanker collided with their vehicle Thursday. According to police, a speeding oil tanker collided with an army vehicle on Sher Shah Road on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, killing three soldiers and injuring eight others.

#4: Fifty-five militants have been killed in separate military operations within the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Thursday morning. "Afghan security forces and the NATO-led coalition troops conducted seven cleanup operations in Kabul, Nangarhar, Jawzjan, Kandahar, Zabul and Logar province, killing 55 armed insurgents over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement. Up to 12 insurgents were wounded and 11 others detained by the joint forces as a result of the operations, it added.

War News for Wednesday, June 05, 2013

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Pfc. Mariano M. Raymundo died from undisclosed causes in Sharan, Afghanistan, Pakitka province, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 1st.

 

The DoD is reporting another new death previously unreported by the military. Warrant Officer Sean W. Mullen died in a roadside bombing in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 2nd.

 

The DoD is reporting the deaths of two soldiers previously unreported by the military. 2nd Lt. Justin L. Sisson and Spc. Robert A. Pierce died from a SVBIRD attack in Tsamkani, Afghanistan on Monday, June 3rd.

Afghans Say New Bodies Have Been Found Near a Former U.S. Base


Reported security incidents
#1: According to local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, at least six civilians were killed following separate explosions in this province on Tuesday.Provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak confirming the report said the incident took place in Sangin district.

#2: Eighteen militants have been killed in a series of military operations in different Afghan provinces, the country's Interior Ministry said Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) in coordination with the army, intelligence service and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several military operations in Helmand, Zabul, Nangarhar, Kunduz and Ghor provinces over the last 24 hours. As results 18 armed Taliban were killed, six wounded and two other armed Taliban were arrested," the ministry said in a press statement.

#3: Earlier on Wednesday, the ANP police shot dead a would-be suicide bomber in the country's eastern province of Wardak. The attacker tried to assault an agriculture school in the provincial capital Maidan Shahr city, 35 km west of Kabul, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the ANP also defused the suicide jacket besides launching a probe into the incident.

#4: In another development, a child was killed and three civilians were wounded when a rocket fired by Taliban hit a residential area in Char Dara district of the northern Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul on Tuesday, a provincial official said Wednesday.


DoD: Warrant Officer Sean W. Mullen

DoD: Staff Sgt. Job M. Reigoux

DoD: 2nd Lt. Justin L. Sisson

DoD: Spc. Robert A. Pierce

War News for Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Red Cross to withdraw foreign staff from Afghanistan following attack


Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan family's car struck a bomb buried in a road in the country's west on Tuesday and the father and three children were killed, an official said. The father and children were killed instantly, and the mother was critically injured in the explosion, said Abdul Rahman Zhawandai, spokesman for the western province of Farah.

#2: At least four people were killed, including two security personnel and two others sustained injuries in a remote controlled bomb blast and firing incidents in district Mastung and Quetta, on Monday. According to sources, a vehicle of security forces was attacked with a remote-controlled device at Ispilinji area of Mastung district, adjacent to Quetta. Resultantly, two security personnel identified as Sajid and Ghulam Qamar lost their lives on the spot and Abdul Hakeem and Ghulam Nabi sustained serious injuries.

#3: At least six people were injured in a grenade attack in Anantnag District of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. According to television channel reports, a police party was the target of the grenade attack launched by suspected terrorists. Out of the six injured, four were policemen, th report added.

#4: On Monday evening, a local elder and a member of local council in neighboring Zharay district were shot dead in provincial capital Kandahar city, 450 km south of Kabul. The attackers fled the scene shortly after they realized Shahista Gul was killed, a provincial government spokesman, Jawid Faisal, told Xinhua on Tuesday.


US/DoD: Spc. Ray A. Ramirez

US/DoD: Spc. Kyle P. Stoeckli

US/DoD: Pfc. Mariano M. Raymundo

War News for Monday, June 03, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 1st.

 

NATO is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier from a direct fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 1st.

 

NATO is reporting the death of a third ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 1st.

Deadly Afghanistan plane crash in April could have been caused by weight shift

NATO drivers refuse to drive US military vehicles to Karachi

German drone nearly hits Afghan airbus

US soldier goes on trial over WikiLeaks disclosures


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber targeting an American patrol outside a busy market in eastern Afghanistan killed 13 people on Monday, including 10 schoolchildren who were walking nearby and two international service members, officials said. Gen. Zelmia Oryakhail, provincial police chief of Paktia province, said the bomber was on a motorcycle and detonated his explosives at midday outside the market in Samkani district as American forces passed. He said a local school had just let pupils out for lunch. The US military coalition in Afghanistan confirmed that two of its service members died in the explosion. It did not confirm their nationalities. Ten schoolchildren and one Afghan police officer were killed, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said. It did not say the ages of the children.

#2: Also Monday, a landmine killed seven Afghan civilians in the eastern province of Laghman. A statement from the provincial government said a group of four women and two children had gone with a male driver into the hills to collect firewood. On their way back, their vehicle hit the mine and all inside were killed.

#3: Two NATO supply containers were torched as they were passing through the Mastung area of the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Sunday. A Levies official, Munir Ahmed told the media that the two containers were attacked on their way back to Karachi after supplying fuel to US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The NATO supplies were passing through Mastung area of Pakistan to reach landlocked Afghanistan when the militants opened fire on the truck, carrying them, and set them on fire. According to security officials, the drivers survived the attack and managed to escape the scene but both the containers were completely burnt. The incident occurred in Dasht Tehsil of Mastung district, a NATO supply route that has witnessed frequent attacks in the past.

#4: In another incident, a blast targeting a vehicle of security forces injured two soldiers in North Waziristan Agency in the tribal area of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan on Sunday. According to media reports, two security officials were injured when the vehicle was attacked with a remote controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near the Esha check post in Miranshah area of North Waziristan. The vehicle was destroyed completely and the injured were taken to a nearby military hospital, reports said.

#5: 6 Taliban militants were killed in a twin air-attack by ISAF choppers on Sunday morning in Zurmat district of Paktiya. A press release by Afghan National Army press office in Gardez says two groups of Taliban militants who were involved in destructive operations came under ISAF air attacks where 6 militants were killed.

News of the Day for Sunday, June 2, 2013

Afghans with disabilities protest the attack on the Red Cross compound in Jalalabad. Taliban leaders have denied responsibility for the attack.

One ISAF soldier and a civilian working with the force are killed by "direct fire" in eastern Afghanistan late Saturday, while another ISAF service member is killed in a separate explosion. No further details as of now.

Thirteen insurgents and four police officers are killed in a fight in Nuristan. An additional 24 insurgents and two police said to be injured. The fighting, which lasted 18 hours,  occurred in the Gohardissh area of Kamdish district, near the Pakistan border. (These highly disproportionate casualty totals seems suspect, especially given the lack of any stated military support for the Afghan forces, but there is no way to independently verify the government account. --- C)

Interior Ministry claims Afghan and ISAF forces have killed 57 militants in 24 hours.

Four civilians are killed by a roadside bomb in Uruzgan.

The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) says that 6 million Afghan children are not enrolled in school. (This story addresses children who are working for money in one way or another; it does not address the issue of education of girls.)

War News for Saturday, June 01, 2013

Taliban deny responsibility for attack on Red Cross

US may need larger force in Afghanistan: Ex-commander

NATO Plans Summit On Next Year's Afghan Withdrawal

More than 1,000 Iraqis killed in May


Reported security incidents
#1: The Pakistani army had killed at least 23 militants in an overnight operation launched in the country 's northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency, local media ARY reported on Saturday. The clashes between militants and security forces also killed two soldiers and wounded five others, it said.
The operation started last night in the Para Chamkani area of Kurram Agency, a restive tribal region which borders to east Afghanistan. During the operation, security forces also reportedly destroyed four militant hideouts. On Friday, a statement issued the army mouthpiece ISPR said that 19 militants were killed in separate military operations conducted in Kurram Agency and its neighboring Khyber Agency since Thursday night. In the operations, the two soldiers were also killed, said the statement.

#2: Afghan police backed by the national army and NATO-led troops have eliminated 72 Taliban insurgents during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Saturday. "In the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army and the Coalition Forces in Badakhshan, Balkh, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Paktika, Paktiya, Herat and Ghor provinces during which 72 armed Taliban rebels have been killed, two wounded and eight others arrested," the statement contended. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on security forces.

#3: A roadside bomb struck a police van in Dawamanda district of Khost province 150 km southeast of Kabul on Saturday, killing three commuters and injuring three others, a local official said. "A mine planted by Taliban rebels struck a vehicle of Border Police Force in Dawamanda district at around 11:30 a.m. local time today, killing three police personnel and injuring three others," the official told Xinhua but declined to be identified.

#4: At least three civilians were killed and eleven others were injured following a roadside bomb explosion in western Ghor province of Afghanistan. The incident took place in Dolaina district on Friday evening after a civilian vehicle struck a roadside improvised explosive device (IED). Provincial governor spokesman Abdulhai Khatibi confirming the report said a vehicle carrying passengers for a wedding ceremony struck a roadside bomb in Barkhol village, killing three civlians injuring eleven others.