War News for Thursday, October 31, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: A clash between Taleban militants and police claimed the lives of a key Taleban commander and a policeman in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, an official said. Taleban militants commanded by Mullah Nasir raided a police checkpoint in Orgon district before dawn and police retaliated, Xinhua reported.

#2: A powerful bicycle bomb exploded in a crowded car repair market in Quetta at around sunset, killing at least five people and wounding 17.

#3: A US drone strike targeting a militant compound Thursday killed three insurgents in a northwest Pakistan tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. The attack took place near Miranshah, the main town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

#4: Five people including three security personnel and two Taliban fighters were killed as clash flared up in Kohistanat district of Saripul province with Saripul city as its capital on Thursday, police said. "The clash which began in the wee hours of Thursday and lasted for several hours, claimed the lives of three Afghan soldiers and two Taliban rebels,"deputy to provincial police chief, Sakhi Dad Haidari, told Xinhua.

War News for Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb explosion on Wednesday killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded four others in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. The explosion took place in a village in the South Waziristan tribal region. The explosion took place in a village in the South Waziristan tribal region.

#2: Militants on Wednesday attacked a house located near Awaran where rescue teams were stationed, DawnNews reported.

#3: At least two Afghan national army soldiers and a Taliban militant were killed following clashes in northern Sar-e-Pul province of Afghanistan. Local government officials said clashes between Afghan soldiers and Taliban militants started on Tuesday night and continued until Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Haidari further added clashes between Afghan soldiers and Taliban militants started after a convoy of the Afghan troops struck with a roadside bomb in Kohistanat district.

War News for Tuesday, October 29, 2013

80 Afghan police killed every week in 'fighting season'

U.S. Disrupts Afghans’ Tack on Militants


Reported security incidents
#1: At least nine militants were killed Monday night in clashes with security forces after an attack on a check post in Pakistan, media reported Tuesday. Some unknown number of militants attacked an army check post with automatic guns and rockets in North Waziristan, a restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, Xinhua quoted media reports of official sources as saying. Security forces retaliated and killed nine of the assailants while the rest fled. There was no immediate report about any loss on the side of the security forces.

#2: In another incident, a landmine blast targeted a convoy of security forces and injured three soldiers at a South Waziristan road, a northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

#3: A pro-government tribal elder and six members of his family were killed when unknown gunmen stormed their home in southwest Pakistan early Tuesday, officials said. The pre-dawn attack occurred in Dera Bugti district, some 450 kilometers southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

#4: A Taliban leader was killed by Afghan Commandos during a clearing operation in Adraskan district’s Nagal village of western Herat province, the alliance said in a statement Tuesday.

#5: Twelve Taliban militants have been killed in separate military operations in Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, said the country's Interior Ministry on Tuesday morning. "In the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several joint clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army, National Directorate for Security (NDS) and Coalition Forces in Nuristan, Laghman, Kunduz, Jawzjan, Kandahar, Farah and Nimroz provinces. As results 12 armed Taliban were killed, four wounded and five others were arrested," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates. The statement did not disclose if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

#6: According to reports, several oil tankers have been burnt following coordinated explosions in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan on Monday.

#7: At least two service members from the Afghan intelligence department – National Directorate of Security (NDS) were injured following an explosion in eastern paktika province of Afghanistan on Monday. According to the local government officials, Afghan intelligence forces killed a suicide bomber in Khair Kot district before the bomber manage to ram his vehicle in an NDS compound.

War News for Monday, October 28, 2013

Afghan truck drivers see their dangerous jobs getting deadlier

NATO Reduces Scope of Its Afghanistan Plans


Reported security incidents
#1: A roadside bomb on Sunday killed at least 18 civilians, mostly women, as they travelled by minibus to a wedding party in a volatile area of central Afghanistan, officials said.

Angry villagers in Afghanistan have stoned a man to death and riddled his body with bullets, believing he set off a bomb on a bus that killed 18 civilians, officials said today.
#2: update A row which left an Afghan soldier dead and three Nato colleagues wounded took place close to the new UK-run officer training academy, it has emerged.

#3: A girl of seven-year-old was killed and five soldiers were wounded in the fresh explosion jolted the capital Kabul, an official said Sunday.

#4: Head of the maintenance department in Kabul municipality, Nesar Ahmad Habibi survived a roadside bomb explosion in capital Kabul late Sunday night. According to reports, Nesar Ahmad Habibi not inside the vehicle when the incident took place and only the driver of the vehicle was injured following the explosion.

#5: At least 19 Taliban militants were killed during joint military operations by Afghan and coalition security forces across the country. According to a statement released by the ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan, the militants were killed during operations conducted by Afghan and coalition security forces during the past 24 hours. The statement further added that the operations were conducted in Nangarhar, Uruzgan, Logar, Khost, Farah, Ghor and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan.

News of the Day for Sunday, October 27, 2013

More information on yesterday's confrontation at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy. A gunfight erupted between an Afghan soldier and two foreign officers. The foreign soldiers were injured and the Afghan killed. The Afghan involved was apparently not a trainee; the foreign soldiers were Australian and New Zealander, according to sources, but this has not been officially confirmed. The Academy is operated by the U.K.

The defense spokesperson for New Zealand's opposition Labor Party comments:

The war in Afghanistan today is predominantly a fight between the majority Pashtun Taleban and the Karzai regime, rather than a war against al Qaeda-led international terrorism. When the Afghan National Army recruits, it has no idea where the real sympathies of a recruit lie.  Increasingly with the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan planned for next year, there will be more and more people who swing their allegiance to the side that seems most likely to win.

Insider fire has become an increasing problem for allied forces training the ANA with recruits turning their weapons on those who are training them.  It may be the result of a personal slight in some instances.  More often it will be Taleban sympathisers infiltrated into the ANA. Thankfully the New Zealand and Australian soldiers in this instance were only lightly wounded and we wish them a speedy recovery. However, the incident could have been much worse and it raises real questions as to the wisdom and the usefulness of keeping New Zealand soldiers in Afghanistan in this role.

A Labour-led Government would look to withdraw them.

Bomb in a Kabul market, apparently targeting soldiers, kills a ten year old girl, injures four civilians and five soldiers.

Air strike is said to have killed a Tabliban commander in Nimroz.

Afghan Interior Ministry claims 12 Taliban killed and various munitions confiscated in past 24 hours. As always, these are said to have been immaculate operations: zero casualties among government forces or civilians. (And, as always, Cervantes says "mierda de los toros.")

Local officials in Badghis province say 46 polling places out of 160 are not secure. "We are worried that we cannot launch election campaigns in the insecure districts of the province," said Zial Gul Ahmad, a member of the Badghis Provincial Council. "We cannot send supervisors to insecure districts, so in these places there could be more fraud."

Residents of Kabul complain to the members of parliament of polluted drinking water.

Explosion in Jalalabad targets police vehicle; no reported injuries.

An interesting, non-judgmental article in Khaama about a university professor coming out as gay. A brief excerpt won't really do this justice so follow the link; but here's one anyway.

A professor in Afghan American University, Nemat Sadat is among the several homosexuals in Afghanistan who has public admitted is homosexuality. The professor in a message posted on his Facebook wall said, “I’m so happy to have finished the process of “coming out” to the entire world. Burden lifted forever.” . . . “So get over it! Now, I can live life without all the kala jaan’s & kaaka jaan’s (aunties & uncles) harassing and pressuring with questions like, Nematee, tu chura zan nakardee?” Now, no grown-up shall dare ask me why I haven’t married a woman,” Sadat said through wall message.

[but .. . ]

Another Afghan gay, Hamid Zaher who is currently living in Toronto, Canada has written a memoir about what it was like to be a gay man in Afghanistan. Hamid Zaher’s memo (book) which has never been published in Afghanistan reflects the misery of his personal life after he escaped Afghanistan in 2011, not because of the oppressive Taliban. His book details his anguished years as a closeted gay Afghan man. He was disowned by his entire family after he disclosed he was a gay man, and he will be killed if he returns back to Afghanistan.

Iraq Update: Bomb attacks on Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad kill 42 people; while a suicide car bomb attack  on a group of soldiers in Mosul kills 9 soldiers and 5 civilians, and injures 30. But this is normal in Iraq nowadays.

War News for Saturday, October 26, 2013

Report: 14 Iranian border guards killed in clashes


Reported security incidents
#1: A gunfight broke out between Afghan and foreign soldiers on the outskirts of the capital Kabul on Saturday, killing at least one Afghan serviceman and injuring a number of other soldiers, according to Afghan and NATO officials. "There was an argument between an Afghan and foreign soldier inside a military base... where they opened fire on each other. An investigation is ongoing," defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said.

A New Zealand soldier has suffered a foot wound after an attack in Afghanistan. The Defence Force said the soldier was attacked by a member of the Afghan National Security Forces as he and Australian soldiers left a meeting at an Afghan National Army facility in Kabul at 5.40pm today New Zealand time.

#2: A car bomb hit a paramilitary van escorting a bus of Shiite Muslim pilgrims in southwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing two soldiers, officials said. The incident took place in Dringhar area, on the main Quetta-Taftan Highway in Mastung district, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Baluchistan province

#3: Thirty-six Taliban militants were killed in collaborated operations in different Afghan provinces since early Friday, said the country's Interior Ministry Saturday. "Afghan police, army, National Directorate for Security (NDS) and the NATO-led ISAF coalition forces conducted several joint clearance operations in Nangarhar, Parwan, Zabul, Uruzgan, Wardak and Ghazni provinces over the past 24 hours. As a result 36 armed Taliban were killed, five wounded and three others were arrested," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

#4: Three Afghan policemen were wounded Saturday morning in a bomb explosion in the country's western province of Farah, according to a source.

#5: Explosion and gun battle has been reported in eastern Ghaznni province of Afghanistan. The blast has reportedly taken place near the provincial government compound.

War News for Friday, October 25, 2013

Four (UK) military dogs killed in action in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Six soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, an official said Friday, dpa reported. "A roadside bomb hit a National Army vehicle on Thursday in Adraskan district, killing six soldiers and destroying the vehicle," Najibullah Najibi, an army official in Herat province said.

#2: In the eastern province of Paktika, a landmine hit a tractor, killing one civilian and injuring four, a local official said Friday.

#3: Two other soldiers were killed and six injured in five IED attacks in Kunar, Ghazni, Kandahar and Helmand provinces over the same period of time, the Afghan Defence Ministry reported on its website.

#4: Early Friday morning, three militants were killed and two injured when the militants launched an attack on police security checkpoints near a power dam in Helmand province. No policeman was hurt in the attack.

#5: Separately, eight Taliban militants were killed in an army operation in Nirkh district of eastern Wardak province overnight, the provincial government said earlier Friday.

#6: At least nine tribespeople, including four women, were injured on Thursday in rocket attacks from across the border in Afghanistan on Pakistan’s Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan Agency, official and tribal sources said. The sources said over a dozen rockets and mortars were fired from Afghanistan which landed in residential area in Angoor Adda, a border area between Afghanistan’s Paktika province and Pakistan’s South Waziristan Agency.

#7: Four militants were blown up by their own explosives in eastern Paktika province of Afghanistan late Thursday, local government officials said.

War News for Thursday, October 24, 2013

Afghan bomb squads in short supply as Nato prepares to leave

Secret memos show Pakistan 'knew of US drone strikes'

Report: Former drone operator shares his inner torment


Reported security incidents
#1: Four Afghan policemen have been killed in a night-time attack by the Taliban on a security outpost in the country's west, an Afghan official said. Police chief Sharafuddin Sharaf said the attack happened in the Bla Murghab district of Badghis province. He said the Taliban tried to storm the security outpost, triggering a three-hour gun battle and killing four members of the local police force. Three other policemen were injured.

#2: At least four Afghan national army soldiers were killed and six others were injured following militants attack and roadside bomb explosion in northern and eastern Afghanistan.

#3: At least 48 Taliban militants were killed and 38 others were injured during joint military operation by Afghan and NATO forces, Afghan officials said.

War News for Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Royal Marine executed captured Afghan, court martial hears

Inside Afghanistan's army officer academy

U.S. Officer Says Taliban Will Fight This Winter


Reported security incidents
#1: Two Pakistani security personnel were injured in rockets shelling from the Afghan side of the border on Tuesday, state radio reported. Quoting officials, radio Pakistan reported that three rockets were fired from the Afghanistan side on a security forces' check post in the Bajaur tribal region.

#2: At least two civilians were killed and three other wounded, when the Taliban fighters fired mortars on a house in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said Wednesday. Governor spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdalzai told Wakht News Agency that two members of a house were killed and three others wounded last night, when the Taliban’s fired mortars missed military posts and landed a house in Hesarak district.

#3: Afghan police backed by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces have killed four dozen Taliban militants across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Wednesday.

#4: According to local authorities in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, at least 2 Afghanistan national army soldiers were killed and 8 others were injured following militants attack.

War News for Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The DoD is reporting the death of Lance Cpl. Christopher O. Grant who died in an insurgent attack somewhere in Helmand province Afghanistan on Sunday, October 20th. 

Amnesty criticises US drone strikes

The Afghan dead find a list


Reported security incidents
#1: Eight Taliban militants were killed and five others injured in joint operation launched by Afghan security forces and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) during the past twenty-four hours in different regions of the country. The statement added that the operations took place in Nuristan, Kunar, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktia and Helmand provinces.

#2: A man in police uniform opened fire and killed three policemen in southern Kandahar province, a former Taliban stronghold on Monday evening, the provincial administration said Tuesday. The deadly attack took place in Nalgham area of Jalai district on Monday night and the attacker escaped after killing three policemen, said provincial administration spokesman Jawed Faisal.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Christopher O. Grant

War News for Monday, October 21, 2013

The DoD is reporting the death of Sgt. Lyle D. Turnbull. He died at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, from a medical emergency on Thursday, October 18th. Apparently he was participating in the Army Ten Miler Shadow Run. He was was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Pakistan tells U.N. at least 400 civilians killed by drone strikes


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb stuck onto a car killed a civilian in downtown Kabul, Afghan police said. Deputy Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Dunish said Monday's explosion was caused by a magnetic bomb attached to a car as it drove through Kabul.

#2: Former Labour MP Chris Carter has narrowly escaped death or serious injury after a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a military convoy outside his Afghanistan home. Mr Carter, who now works for the United Nations Development Programme, was metres from a car bomb blast that killed two civilians outside the Green Village compound in Kabul on Saturday morning (NZ time).

#3: A bomb exploded on a train in the south-western province of Balochistan, killing seven passengers and injuring more than 20 people, police officer Riaz Ahmed Chaudhry said.

#4: Overnight, four policemen were killed by gunmen on motorbikes at a security checkpoint in the north-western province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, officials said. The incident in the provincial capital Peshawar triggered protests by angry relatives of police.

#5: Four Taliban fighters including their commander were killed as Afghan security forces stormed their hideout in eastern Kunar province on Monday, a local official said. "Acting upon intelligence report, the security forces raided Taliban hideout in Kalajal village of Manogai district Monday morning killing four rebels including their commander Mullah Dawran," district governor Hajji Abdul Marjan told Xinhua.

#6: Two Afghan policemen were killed and four others wounded Monday in roadside bombing in the northern province of Baghlan, sources said. "Two policemen were killed and four cops were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Karu area of Dushi district at around midday," the district police chief Muhibullah Khan told Xinhua.

#7: Earlier in the day, two Taliban militants were killed and three others injured when the IED they were making went off in Nijrab district in eastern Kapisa province, 65 km north of Kabul.

#8: According to local authorities in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, at least two Afghan border protection police forces were killed following an attack by Pakistani Taliban militants. provincial security chief, Gen. Abdul Razaq confirming the report said the incident took place on Monday morning around 6am local time, after a group of Taliban militants attacked the security check post of the border protection police forces. Gen. Razaq further added that the incident took place in Spin Boldak area, leaving two border protection police forces dead and another police officer injured.

#9: At least 36 Taliban militants were killed in joint Afghan and NATO forces operations across the country, according to the interior ministry of Afghanistan. The source further added that the operations were conducted in Helmand, Paktiya, Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, Baghlan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan.

#10: According to local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, at least 9 Taliban militants were killed during NATO airstrike in this province.

DoD: Sgt. Lyle D. Turnbull

News of the Day for Sunday, October 20, 2013

Candidate for provincial council elections is murdered in Kapisa province. He was on his way home with his daughter when unknown assailants attacked his motorcycle.



Afghan special forces commander defects to Taliban in Kunar province, taking a tank and other weapons with him. According to this Khaama article, "This is the first time a commander of the Afghan special forces is joining the Taliban group. However, the surrender of Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan local police (ALP) forces to Taliban militants is not rare."

Afghan Interior Ministry berates the German ambassador to Afghanistan  for closing the German embassy over what the Afghans say were baseless security threats.

Afghan government prepares to release 2,500 Pakistani prisoners, in a gesture to Pakistan's Islamist political party the Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazal. (This is the most radical bloc within the broader JUI. -- C)

Three British marines will be tried for murder of a Taliban prisoner in 2011.

As the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, each week the military sells 12 to 14 million pounds of equipment on the open market -- everything from armored trucks to ice cream scoops. However, the equipment is being destroyed first to make sure it can't be converted to military use. Excerpt:

That policy has produced more scrap metal than Afghanistan has ever seen. It has also led to frustration among Afghans, who feel as if they’re being robbed of items like flat-panel televisions and armored vehicles that they could use or sell — no small thing in a country where the average annual income hovers at just over $500.. . .

The United States is leaving heaps of mattresses, barbed wire and shipping containers in scrap yards near its shrinking bases. “This is America’s dustbin,” said Sufi Khan, a trader standing in the middle of an immense scrap yard outside Bagram Airfield, the U.S. military’s sprawling headquarters for eastern Afghanistan. The scrap yard looks like a post-industrial landfill in the middle of the Afghan desert, a surreal outcropping of mangled metal and plastic. There’s a tower of treadmills 50 feet high and an acre of American buses, trucks and vans, stripped of seats and engines. An ambulance is perched unsteadily atop a pile of scrap, like it fell from the sky. A mountain of air conditioning units sits next to a mountain of truck axles.

British boost the numbers of special forces in Afghanistan to provide cover during withdrawal.
"Often disguised in local clothing and mounting unconventional raids on insurgents, the SAS has killed more than a dozen Taliban leaders. The plan to send in more elite troops comes after Lance Corporal James Brynin of the Intelligence Corps died in a firefight with the Taliban near Laskar Gah, the former British Forces headquarters."

U.S. inks agreement with Romania for use of an airbase to facilitate troop withdrawal, as existing arrangements for use of a base in Kyrgyzstan break down.

War News for Friday, October 18, 2013

Suspected al Qaeda attack in Yemen kills 7 soldiers, security officials say


Reported security incidents
#1: Suspected Taliban militants fired two rockets at an Italian base in the Shindand District of the western Afghanistan Herat Province Friday but no one was hurt.

#2: At least eleven suspected Taliban militants were killed following a NATO airstrike in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan on Thursday.

#3: At least five Afghan police officers were killed following a roadside bomb explosion in northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan on Thursday.

War News for Thursday, October 17, 2013

Documents reveal NSA’s extensive involvement in targeted killing program


Reported security incidents
#1: A Pakistani military official says two soldiers have been killed in separate incident. In the second incident, the Pakistani official says a soldier was killed by militants near the border with Afghanistan in South Waziristan.

#2: At least 10 people including a provincial minister were killed and over 20 others injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday evening, officials and local media said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Jan Mohammad Khan said that the incident took place when the Provincial Law Minister Israrullah Gandapur was exchanging Eid greetings with people at his residence in Kullachi area of northwestern district of Dera Ismail Khan. According to eyewitness, the suicide bomber shot dead a police guard at the main gate then entered into the main courtyard before exploding his explosive-laden vest near the minister. "The attack killed 10 persons and injured over 20 others including the elder brother of the minister," said the police officer.

#3: According to reports, Australian forces have been accused of civilian casualties during a military operation in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. A young Afghan boy and his father were reportedly killed after Australian forces carried out an operation on a residential house where a suspected militant was hiding. The raid was carried out late in September in Tarinkot city and dead bodies of a young boy and his father were found after Australian forces opend fired through the roole while the entering the house, Australia’s Fairfax Media reported.


MoD: Lance Corporal James Brynin

War News for Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in the area of Kakaran north east of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, October 15th.

Afghan-Canadian dies in mosque attack

Last six Dutch soldiers leave Kunduz, Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: According to local authorities in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, a suicide bomber was shot dead by Afghan police forces before the suspected bomber managed to carry out suicide attack. Spokesman for the provincial security department, Farid Ayel confirming the report said the suicide bomber was shot dead late Tuesday in Tarinkot city.

War News for Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Foreign soldier killed in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: An attack on a mosque killed the governor of Logar Province south of the Afghan capital on Tuesday, officials said, as he was making an address on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Darwish said the bomb had been planted inside the mosque and detonated remotely, but police said the explosion was set off by a suicide bomber.

#2: A grenade attack targetting on a convoy of the Balochistan Constabulary in Quetta injured 11 people on Tuesday.A vehicle belonging to the Balochistan Constabulary was travelling on Mastung Road in Quetta when unknown motorcyclists hurled a hand grenade at it. The wounded included five constabulary personnel, three children and three others present in the vicinity.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Patrick H. Quinn

War News for Monday, October 14, 2013

To Ousted Boss, Arms Watchdog Was Seen as an Obstacle in Iraq


Reported security incidents
#1: A labourer was killed and another wounded after explosives went off in village Kot Khaddak, 40 kilometres west from Tank on Saturday, police and hospital sources said. Two labourers Umar Khan and Yousaf, hailing from Afghanistan, were lifting a bundle of wood in a bricks factory near Chairman Adda in Village Kot-Khaddak when the explosive material, hidden in the wood bundle, went off.

#2: Four police personnel lost their lives as a roadside bomb organized by anti-government militants struck a police van in Taliban former stronghold the southern Kandahar province on Sunday, a local official said Monday. "A mine planted by militants on a road in Takhtapol district struck a police vehicle on Sunday evening leaving four border police personnel dead including Sediqullah, a checkpoint commander, " district governor Mahmoud Achakzai told Xinhua.

#3: Afghan national police backed by the army have killed 40 Taliban militants during a series of operations carried out across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Monday. The operations had covered Baghlan, Wardak, Logar, Kandahar, Ghazni, Nangarhar and Saripul provinces, during which 25 more militants sustained injuries and 13 others made captive, according to the ministry.

#4: A suicide bomber was killed in eastern Paktiya province of Afghanistan of Monday after he blown up himself inside a hospital in this province. Officials in the interior ministry of Afghanistan on Monday said that the suicide bomber was arrested along with his explosives by Afghan security forces. Sediq Sediq, spokesman for the interior ministry of Afghanistan said the suicide bomber was looking to start clashes with the Afghan security forces, but was injured after Afghan police opened fire on him. Mr. Sediqi further added that the suicide bomber was injured and was taken to hospital in Gadez city, where blew up himself

#5: According to local authorities in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, Taliban militants fired at least 12 missiles on US-run Bagram airfield late Sunday night.

News of the Day for Sunday, October 13, 2013

Man wearing an Afghan army uniform shoots at U.S. troops in Sharana, Paktika province, hitting two and apparently killing at least one, although as of now there is no official announcement.

Taliban kill two children, 8 and 10 years old, in Kunar, accusing them of "espionage."

Rocket attack on a market in Nuristan kills 7, injures 10.

Two civilians are injured by an explosion in Helmand province.

President Karzai responds to claims by Russian foreign minister Lavrov that Syrian militants are being trained in Afghanistan. Specifically, Lavrov says that members of the Al-Nusra front are being trained in the use of chemical weapons in areas of Afghanistan not controlled by the government. Karzai says he will investigate.

Karzai and U.S. Secretary of State agree on most elements of a security agreement, but Karzai does not accept a U.S. demand that it retain legal jurisdiction of its troops that remain post-2014. Karzai says that a Loya Jirga (council of elders) must approve it. This would be a deal-breaker for the U.S. if the council rejects the provision.

War News for Saturday, October 12, 2013

US captures top Pakistani Taliban leader


Reported security incidents
#1: At least two policemen were killed and over eight others were wounded in a suicide attack in eastern Afghan province Nangarhar on Saturday, said officials. The spokesman for governor, Ahmad Zeya Abdulzai told that a suicide bomber slammed his explosives-laden car into the provincial police headquarters in Jalalabad city.

#2: According to reports, Taliban militants have abducted four construction workers in western Herat province of Afghanistan. A local security official speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed the report and said four workers of a construction firm were abducted by Taliban on Herat-Badghis highway.

War News for Friday, October 11, 2013

Last major British deployment in Afghanistan begins

UN votes final mandate for Afghan force

Pakistani PM says gov't serious in Taliban talks


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan national police backed by the army have killed 28 Taliban militants and wounded over a dozen others across the militancy-plagued country over the past 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Friday. During the operations which carried out in Nangarhar, Daikundi, Logar, Wardak, Baghlan and Helmand provinces, 15 more Taliban fighters sustained injuries and another was captured, the statement said.

#2: At least four people were killed and 30 others injured as a blast went off near a police station in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Thursday afternoon, reported local media Express.

#3: According to local authorities in eastern Khost province of Afghanistan, at least four civilians were injured following a suicide bomb attack in this province. The officials further added that the incident took place on Thursday afternoon in Mandozai district after a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of the NATO troops. District chief for Mandozai, Mohammad Younus confirming the report said a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into the convoy of the US troops, leaving at least four civilians injured.

War News for Thursday, October 10, 2013

New details emerge about how four U.S. military members died in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: An armed clash left three militant commanders dead in Afghanistan\'s Kunnar province, which borders Pakistan, sources said on Thursday. The sources and eyewitnesses said that dozens of Afghan Taliban militants launched an attack on Pakistani militants based in Ghaziabad area of Kunnar, killing three extremist commanders and injuring many others. The sources said that the slain commanders belonged to Swat. Some sources also claimed that Mullah Fazlullah alias mullah Radio, fugitive chief of Swati Taliban, was also killed in the attack. However, the Pakistani militants rejected the reports.

#2: Three security personnel were injured in an explosion on Ring Road here on Thursday. According MPA Nighat Orakzai who was an eyewitness, the explosion took place near a security force vehicle deployed to provide security to members of the anti-polio team. Orakzai added that there were seven people in the vehicle at the time of the explosion.

#3: According to local authorities in Daykundi province of Afghanistan, at least 26 Taliban militants were killed and 34 others were injured following clashes with the Afghan security forces. The militants were killed during military operation conducted by Afghan police and Afghan army to retake the control of a former ISAF military base which was seized by Taliban militants.


DoD: Spc. Angel L. Lopez

War News for Wednesday, October 09, 2013

In Pakistan, vaccinating children against polio can be a deadly job


Reported security incidents
#1: A security official says a suicide car bombing has killed four people, two civilians and two policemen, in southern Afghanistan. Police spokesman for southern Helmand province, Shamem Noorzai, says Wednesday's attack took place in the Gareshk district. He says the bomber targeted a police patrol and blew up his car next to a police vehicle in a crowded area of the town of Gareshk. Noorzai says the explosion also wounded three civilians and a police officer.

#2: Three tribespeople hailing from the Khyber Agency were among those killed in the Nato airstrike in Pikha area in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, local sources said on Tuesday.The sources said that five others persons belonging to Khyber Agency sustained injuries the attack.


DoD: 1st Lt. Jennifer M. Moreno

DoD: Sgt. Patrick C. Hawkins

DoD: Sgt. Joseph M. Peters

DoD: Pfc. Cody J. Patterson

War News for Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Minn.native injured in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: At least three people were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan's Wardak province, officials said Tuesday. "On Monday evening, three people were killed when a bomb attached to their vehicle by militants was detonated in the provincial capital Maidan Shar," Xinhua reported citing a provincial government statement. The victims were employees of a local construction company, Aziz Hashimi, and were travelling to a construction site when the incident took place, the statement said.

#2: At least nine people including four police personnel were injured when a police station came under a grenade attack on the outskirts of Quetta in the restive Balochistan province. Police reports said that some miscreants on motorbikes hurled a hand grenade at New Sariyab Road police station on Tuesday morning.

#3: The Afghan Interior Ministry on Tuesday said that 21 militants were killed and five wounded in operations since early Monday in different provinces. In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted several cleanup operations with the cooperation of army, National Directorate for Security and Coalition Forces in Kunar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Jawzjan, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Wardak and Helmand provinces, killing 21 armed Taliban and wounding five other militants," the ministry said in a statement.

War News for Monday, October 07, 2013

The ISAF web site has not published a release worth reading since late September and appears to be as dysfunctional as our congress. We have found reposted releases on other official military sites which confirms the deaths published by the media recently which we will use as temporary confirmation until this problem is resolved. – whisker

Germany pulling out its troops from Afghanistan

Afghan Taliban financially support Pakistan Taliban group


Reported security incidents
#1: A police officer says a bomb exploded in northwest Pakistan near a vehicle carrying officials taking part in an anti-polio campaign, killing at least six people.

#2: A roadside bomb on Sunday killed three soldiers and wounded at least seven others in the country's troubled northwest bordering Afghanistan, officials said. A military vehicle on a routine patrol hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the Bannu region near Miranshah in North Waziristan tribal district, a bastion of militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

#3: At least six people including four policemen were killed and 12 others injured on Monday morning when a bomb blast hit Pakistan's northwestern provincial capital of Peshawar, local media and officials said. According to Senior Superintendent of police Najib ur Rehman, the blast targeted a police squad who was guarding outside a dispensary where polio workers were collecting their vaccination material in the Badaber area in the outskirts of Peshawar, killing six people and injuring 12 others.

#4: Up to six militants were killed and 11 others arrested in security operations within the last 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Monday morning. "Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and NATO-led coalition forces launched cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunduz, Badakhshan and Kandahar provinces over the past 24 hours. As a result six armed Taliban were killed, two wounded and 11 others were arrested by the ANSF," the ministry said in a press release providing daily operational updates.

#5: According to local authorities in eastern Nuristan province of Afghanistan, a senior security official was killed following a roadside bomb explosion in this province.


News: Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Michael Collins Jr.

News of the Day for Sunday, October 6, 2013

Four U.S. troops killed by a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan. No further information released at this time. This brings total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan this year to 102. A total of 2,146 U.S. military have died in Afghanistan in the 12 years since the invasion October 7, 2001. The anniversary tomorrow, and the death toll, have gone largely unremarked in the United States.

German forces hand over control of a camp in Kunduz to Afghan military. About 4,000 German troops remain in the country. Fifty four Germans have died in Afghanistan since 2002, 35 in combat.

Police Lieutenant General Momen is injured by a remote controlled mine, 3 of his bodyguards are killed, in Nuristan.

Hamid Karzai's brother Abdul is running for president. 

Reports of fighting in Gujran district of Dykundi province, with 1 police officer and 1 Taliban fighter killed, and 3 police injured.

Ministry of Defense claims 11 insurgents killed in various operations in past 24 hours. As usual, there is no mention of government or civilian casualties.

Norway will cut its aid to Afghanistan due to lack of progress on women's rights and corruption. Norway has 111 soldiers in Afghanistan and has suffered 10 deaths over the years.

War News for Saturday, October 5, 2013

Foreign soldier dies in Afghanistan --  A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan died due to non-battle related injury Saturday, the alliance said.

Gunman kills NATO service member -- A gunman, possibly a private security guard, shot dead a member of the U.S.-led international coalition in southern Afghanistan on Saturday before himself being killed, NATO said.


Reported security incidents
#1: At least five civilians, including three children, were killed overnight in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan after they went hunting for birds with air guns, local officials said Saturday. “Last night around 11:00 pm, five civilians aged between 12 and 20 carrying air guns wanted to go hunting birds some eight kilometers [five miles] from the center of the city of Jalalabad. They were targeted and killed by a foreign forces airstrike,” provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal told AFP.

#2: Units of Afghan police backed by the national army have killed 18 Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. The operations were carried out in Kandahar, Farah and Helmand provinces, during which one militant was injured and 13 others made captive, said the statement.

#3: According to local authorities in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan, at least 11 people including Afghan police officers were killed or injured following a roadside bomb explosion in this province. The officials further added, the incident took place in Qaisar district around 11am local time on Friday, leaving two Afghan police officers dead and nine others injured.

War News for Friday, October 04, 2013

Soldiers shut down last patrol base


Reported security incidents
#1: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the director of a non-governmental organization (NGO) from Railway Colony in Quetta on Friday. According to initial reports, unknown armed men had intercepted Director Noor Muhammad’s vehicle near Railway Colony when he was on his way to work.

#2: Four people, including two policemen, were killed and three others injured when the militants raided a security check-post in eastern Afghan province of Laghman overnight, the provincial government said in a statement Friday morning.

#3: A heavy explosion rocked southern Helmand province of Afghanistan late Thursday evening. The incident took place in Lashkargah city of Helmand province after a vehicle packed with explosives went off. Local residents and eye-witnesses in the are saying that a number of people have been killed or injured following the incident.

 

 

War News for Thursday, October 03, 2013

UAE forces complete mine clearing in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: On Sept. 7, insurgents used a bomb to blow up a helicopter as it was landing on hill near a main air base in western Herat province, seriously wounding the Afghan pilot and his U.S. army trainer. They apparently had noticed that the helicopter always landed in the same place after a training mission.

#2: A government official says a suicide attack targeting a militant commander has killed 15 people in northwestern Pakistan. The official, Wajid Khan, says the militant commander targeted in the attack Thursday, Nabi Hanfi, has been fighting against the Pakistani Taliban in the Orakzai tribal region where the bombing occurred. Khan says gunmen fired shots at Hanfi's compound and then a suicide bomber drove a vehicle inside and detonated his explosives. The blast killed 15 people and wounded six others. It's unclear if Hanfi was killed.

#3: Nine insurgents including two Pakistani nationals were killed during a series of clearance operation in southern province of Kandahar, an official said Thursday. The incident took place late on last evening, when the security forces conduced a clearance operation in Mashan and Zangan areas of the Panjwaye district, where two Pakistani affiliated to the insurgents along with their seven colleagues were killed, said the governor office in a statement.

#4: Three Afghan soldiers lost their lives and four others sustained injuries as a roadside bomb struck a military van in Nawa district of the southern Helmand province on Wednesday, a local official said. "A bomb planted by militants on a road in Nawa district struck a military van at around 10:30 a.m. local time today killing three soldiers and wounding four others," district police chief Ahmad Shah told Xinhua.

#5: National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Thursday announced to seized a vehicle laden with explosives in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

War News for Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Seven people were killed in a suicide blast near the Bab-e-Dosti (Friendship Gate) at the Pak-Afghan border on Wednesday. 15 others including 7 FC personnel were injured in the blast. According to security sources, the suicide attacker was trying to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan and detonated his explosive-laden vest when he was stopped at the border by FC personnel. Two Pakistanis were among the six people killed in the blast.

#2: A landmine explosion in Balochistan’s Awaran district on Wednesday led to the death of two soldiers and left four others injured. While carrying out relief activities, a security forces vehicle crashed into a landmine in the Makshay area of Awaran. Two soldiers died on the spot while four others sustained heavy injuries and were immediately shifted to the Awaran district hospital for treatment.

#3: Afghan National Police (ANP) said in a statement Wednesday that it had arrested two Taliban mine planters in southern province of Kandahar.

#4: Units of Afghan police, backed by the army, have eliminated more than 20 Taliban fighters during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Wednesday. "In past 24 hours, Afghan National Police have conducted several clearance operations with the cooperation of Afghan National Army and the NATO-led Coalition Forces in Nangarhar, Faryab, Badakhshan, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Farah and Nimroz provinces, which have left 21 armed Taliban rebels dead, two wounded and six others were arrested," the statement contended.

War News for Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Three bodies were found at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border near Zor Barawal (old Barawal) area but their identities couldn’t be ascertained.

#2: One Afghan army soldier and two civilians were wounded Tuesday morning in a bomb attack in western province of Herat, said the police. "An improvised explosive device (IED) placed in a main road in Herat city, capital of Herat province, was detonated when an army vehicle was passing by the area. One army soldier aboard the van and two civilian passers-by were wounded," a provincial police source told Xinhua.

#3: Twenty-six militants were killed in separate military operations launched by the Afghan police and army since early Monday, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday morning. Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) carried out several cleanup raids in Nangarhar, Faryab, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Ghazni provinces within the last 24 hours. As a result 26 armed Taliban were killed, two wounded and seven others were arrested by the ANSF," the ministry said in a statement.

#4: Three people including an intelligence official were injured as a bomb blast rocked Assadabad town in the eastern Kunar province on Tuesday, a local official said. "It was a remote-controlled roadside bomb which targeted the vehicle of the intelligence official Saranwal Malang outside provincial capital Assadabad, injuring him along with two of his bodyguards," the official told Xinhua but declined to be identified, saying authorized officials would brief the media after investigation.