War News for Tuesday, April 08, 2014

More than 3,000 reports of violations in Afghanistan election


Reported security incidents
#1: At least 12 passengers were killed and more than 30 wounded on Tuesday when militants bombed a train in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, hospital sources and officials said. The blast came a day after Pakistani security forces said they had killed 30 separatist militants in one of the biggest clashes in months in the gas-rich province. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast and it was not clear if it was related to the fighting. The bomb went off on the Rawalpindi-bound Jaffar Express in a carriage reserved for men, in the town of Sibi, 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the provincial capital of Quetta.

Paramilitary troops said they launched a military operation in Balochistan on Monday and killed some 40 rebels. The toll could not be independently verified. The Frontier Corps said in a statement the operation began early Monday in the Farod area of Kalat district. “Around 40 insurgents belonging to the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) and Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were killed during the operation,” it said. “Six vehicles were also destroyed during the operation and it is still going on.” Security and rebel accounts of clashes often differ greatly and spokesmen for the two separatist groups have so far declined to comment. Some local residents said a military helicopter had been shot down, but the FC denied the reports. It said the helicopter made an emergency landing on a road in Kalat and the pilot and co-pilot were safe.

#2: An Afghan official says a roadside bomb has killed at least 15 people in vehicles that had been diverted from a main road after an earlier attack in southern Afghanistan. Local government spokesman Dawkhan Menapal says two SUVs carrying civilians were traveling on a side road after the main road was blocked following a suicide bombing targeting a convoy of NATO troops in Kandahar province.

According to reports, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of the NATO-led coalition security forces in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The incident took place on Monday afternoon in Maiwand district of Kandahar province. A local government official said the suicide bomber targeted the convoy of the coalition forces by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED).

#3: A Pakistan military aircraft on Tuesday crashed in the Punjab province while on a training flight, killing both the pilots on board. The small two-seater Mushshak aircraft was on a routine training flight when it crashed due to a technical fault in Rahwali Cantt Gujranwala, a statement from the army said.  It said both the pilots aboard the plane died in the crash.

#4: Afghan officials claimed that 32 Taliban fighters were killed with eight others wounded in nationwide raids by the country's security forces. Eleven militants were also captured during the 24-hour operation, the Afghan interior ministry claimed in a statement on Tuesday.

#5: A Chaparhar district official for villages’ affairs in eastern Nangarhar province was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, an officials said Tuesday. Unknown armed men took Hazrat Wali, in charge for villages affairs of the district out of his house overnight and shot him fatally in the restive district, where Chief, Qazi Nazir told Wakht News Agency that he had no personnel enmity with anyone.

#6: At least 17 prominent Taliban leaders including the Taliban shadow governor were killed following an airstrike in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan on Monday.

Two top leaders were killed following a drone strike in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan on Monday.