Reported security incidents
#1: A roadside bomb killed 14 civilians in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said. The victims were travelling in the Giro district of Ghazni province after a wedding ceremony when the bomb ripped through their vehicle, district governor Abdullah Khairkhwah told AFP.
#2: Backed by helicopter gunships, Pakistani troops on Saturday killed 14 militants following an attack on army posts near the Afghan border, two army officers and a government official said. The attack began after dozens of insurgents sneaked across the border into Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of Bajur and hit at least two military checkpoints, killing one soldier and wounding two others, local government administrator Shah Naseem said.
#3: Four civilians were killed and ten others were injured after Pakistani gunship helicopters pounded civilian homes in the Dangam district of eastern Kunar province on Saturday, an official said. The attack involving two choppers began around 8am on Saturday and was still ongoing, Governor Shujaul Mulk Jalala said. He said the dead and wounded included women and children.
#4: Up to 23 militants have been killed in Afghanistan within day, said the Afghan Interior Ministry on Saturday morning.
#5: The head of security guards for education minister was killed by militants two days after he was abducted in Maidan Wardak province.
DoD: Pfc. Jacob H. Wykstra
Saturday, May 31, 2014
War News for Saturday, May 31, 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
War News for Friday, May 30, 2014
U.S. Strategy to Fight Terrorism Increasingly Uses Proxies
Reported security incidents
#1: At least three soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan on Thursday, officials said. Inter Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece of Pakistan army, said in a statement that the explosive materials planted along the roadside targeted a team of soldiers patrolling on foot near Nosher Fort area of North Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal area along Pakistan-Afghan border.
#2: According to local authorities in eastern Paktika province, at least eight militants were killed following a NATO airstrike in this province. The provincial police chief, Gen. Nabi Jan Malakhel said the airstrike was carried out late Thursday night in Yahya Khel district.
#3: At least five Taliban militants including the group’s shadow governor for Kunduz province was killed following a military operation.
#4: A senior intelligence official was killed following an explosion in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
War News for Thursday, May 29, 2014
Obama says goodbye to American hubris
Reported security incidents
#1: In northern Jawzjan province, a roadside bomb hit the car of the intelligence chief of Aqcha district on Thursday morning, police officer Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani said. The explosion killed the district chief, Manzurullha, and his bodyguard, and wounded three other officials who were travelling with them, Jawzjani said. Like most Afghans, Manzurullha used only one name.
#2: Also on Thursday, two roadside bombings minutes apart killed an Afghan policeman and wounded four others in the city of Kandahar, said police officer Shamsullha, who also uses one name. The first explosion struck a police car as it drove down a street, killing one officer and wounding two. Then, as other policemen who were nearby rushed to the site of the blast, a second explosion went off, wounding two more policemen, said Shamsullha.
#3: At least three soldiers have been killed and another two wounded in a roadside bomb blast in northwest Pakistan, officials say. The incident took place on Thursday morning near Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan, one of the most violent tribal districts that houses Pakistani Taliban and the Haqqani network. "A patrolling team was inspecting the Bannu-Miransah road to build a military checkpoint when they stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED)," a senior security official based in Peshawar told AFP.
#4-7: About 13 people, including 10 militants, were killed in separate security incidents elsewhere in Afghanistan on Thursday, authorities said.
#4: Separately, logistic police Chief Abdul Matin was injured along a police officer when a sticky bomb attached to police jeep went off in Maehtarlam, the capital city of eastern Laghman province before noon.
#5: In northern Kunduz province, an Afghan Local Police (ALP) was killed and three ALP cops were wounded when Taliban launched an ambush attack in Ali Abad district at around midday.
#6: In the neighboring Dashti Archi district, one Taliban fighter was killed with six other militants injured in an exchange of fire with security forces earlier on Thursday.
#7: In southern Helmand province, a known Taliban stronghold, nine Taliban insurgents were killed when the roadside bombs they were planting exploded in three separate incidents Thursday morning, according to an army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Rassoul Zazai.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
War News for Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Obama charts end to Afghan war by 2016
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140528_Obama_to_leave_9_800_U_S__troops_in_Afghanistan.html#3ukMh4BuDBzFok2O.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140528_Obama_to_leave_9_800_U_S__troops_in_Afghanistan.html#3ukMh4BuDBzFok2O.99
Powerful faction splits from Pakistani Taliban
Reported security incidents
#1: Two Americans were injured Wednesday in Afghanistan when a U.S. Consulate vehicle was attacked while traveling through the western city of Herat, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said.
The vehicle was on its way to the airport in Herat on Wednesday when an unidentified gunman on a motorbike shot at it with a rocket-propelled grenade, Basher Ahmad, chief of police for the Enjeel district, said.
#2: Unknown men blew up an eight-inch diameter gas pipeline in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti district (Balochistan) on Tuesday. Gas supply was suspended from well number 21 after the blast. Further investigation was underway.
#3: For the second time in three months Turkmen troops along the Afghan border have suffered losses, according to Radio Liberty. Thus, three Turkmen soldiers were killed on May 24 by a small armed group that crossed the border from Ghormach district of Afghanistan's Faryab province.
#4: At least two Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following improvised explosive device (IED) attack.
#5: Over 300 rockets landed in parts of eastern Kunar province during the past two days, local officials said. Provincial security chief, Gen. Abdul Habib Syed Khel said the rockets have landed in Shegal and Dangam districts. Gen. Syed Khel further added that the cross-border shelling left one civilian dead and 14 others injured, while 20 families were forced to leave their homes in Shegal district.
#6: At least nine Taliban militants were killed following counter-terrorism operations in various provinces of Afghanistan in the past 24 hours.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
War News for Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Reported security incidents
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the director of Shaheed Mohammad Hashim Khan Dar-ul-Hifaz, a Quran memorization centre in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, an official said today. He was 70 years old. Mohammad Asif Shinwari, a spokesman for the Department of Education (MoE), condemned the assassination of Maulvi Daud Shah and demanded the immediate arrest of the killers. Gunmen took Shah out of school and sprayed him with bullets, Shinwari said. The incident took place in Ahmadkhel area of Khogyani district on Monday night.
#2: A Taliban suicide bomber on a motorbike killed at least two Afghan soldiers Monday in an attack on a military bus in Kabul as the country prepares to hold second-round presidential elections. "As a result, two soldiers were killed and nine others were wounded." The bus, which was badly damaged with its windows blown out, was hit in the southeast of the city while travelling on a dirt road near a cemetery.
#3: A total of 44 Taliban militants have been killed in Afghan security forces' cleanup operations since early Monday, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
#4: According to local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, at least eleven Taliban militants were killed following a NATO airstrike.
Monday, May 26, 2014
War News for Monday, May 26, 2014
White House mistakenly reveals name of top CIA officer in Afghanistan
Reported security incidents
#1: A doctor from minority Ahmadi community of Pakistan was shot dead on Monday in Chenab Nagar town of Punjab province, officials have said. Mehdi Ali, a 50-year-old heart surgeon normally based in the United States, was attacked as he visited a cemetery in the town of Chenab Nagar.
#2: Gunmen stormed a tribal police post Sunday in southwestern Pakistan, killing six police officers and wounding three, authorities said. The attack took place in Wadh area of Baluchistan province's Khuzdar district, where insurgents have launched previous attacks, said Baroz Khan, a senior government official.
#3: Five Afghan soldiers have been killed in separate bombings within 24 hours across the country, said the country's Defense Ministry on Monday.
#4: A senior police chief and also a well-known anti-Taliban figure was killed in suicide bomb attack in Kandahar city, the provincial capital of southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Sunday, sources said. The attack took place in the afternoon when a militant detonated a suicide jacket close to the convoy of Abdul Wodoud in the city, 450 km south of Kabul, a police spokesman Zia Durranni told Xinhua.
#5: An explosion was heard in capital Kabul on Monday afternoon. The blast has reportedly taken place in Qala-e-Zaman Khan, in the 16th police district of Kabul city. Eyewitnesses in the area are saying that a bus which was transporting the Afghan security personnel, was targeted in the blast.
#6: At least 15 civilians were killed or injured in the latest wave of cross-border shelling by Pakistani military in eastern Afghanistan. Local authorities in Kunar province said the Pakistani military has fired over 280 rockets in this province during the recent days.
#7: A heavy explosion rocked southeastern Zabul province of Afghanistan on late Sunday, local government officials said. The officials further added that the incident took place in the outskirt of Qalat city, leaving two policemen dead.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
News of the Day for Sunday, May 25, 2014
Taliban free 24 of 27 police they had taken prisoner following capture of Yamgan district in Badakshan province last week. However, they continue to hold 3 police commanders. Local authorities say government forces recaptured the district on Friday, however, 200 to 300 Taliban fighters remain nearby.
Two men are killed in southern Kandahar province attempting to plant a roadside bomb when it exploded prematurely.
According to a police spokesman, 10 Taliban and 1 police officer are killed in fighting in Baghlan province. No statement from the Taliban so far.
Interior Ministry fires up the Wurlitzer to claim 47 insurgents killed in past 24 hours. As usual, zero government or civilian casualties. Whatever.
This Memorial Day weekend, Yonkers remembers Lance Cpl. John Malone, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, killed in action Sept. 24, 2009.
Air Force Reserve technical Sergeant Davielle Rogers of Brunswick Maine reflects on 4 deployments to Afghanistan and the Middle East, including 6 months with the Fallen Warriors program, preparing bodies for return home.
“It was tough to swallow,” Rodgers said, her gaze fixed on a corner tile on the floor. “I was at church a lot and spoke to a chaplain. The first time I had to remove myself, and I threw up. I couldn’t process the reality of what I was doing.”
During her six months working in the morgue, Rodgers “processed and boarded” 65 to 70 U.S. military personnel and “host nationals,” or Afghan fighters, she said. She and her colleagues would open body bags, wipe down the bodies, ice them and then place them in a casket. “Sometime we only saw them from the neck up,” she said. “Sometimes we’d know it was just a body bag of parts.”
Then they’d load the casket onto a van before a priest or chaplain said a prayer. They’d carry the casket to a loader, which rises 100 feet to place the casket in the back of a C5 transport plane for the final voyage toward burial and grieving loved ones at home.
“We have to be really, really respectful,” she said. “We’re making sure these people get home to their loved ones. Not everybody gets to have that … after that I looked at things differently.”
Saturday, May 24, 2014
War News for Saturday, May 24, 2014
31 Killed in Multiple Attacks by Al-Qaida Gunmen in Yemen
Most US drone strikes in Pakistan attack houses
10-hour Taliban assault on consulate in Afghanistan
Reported security incidents
#1: Six soldiers were killed today when an improvised explosive devise (IED) planted by militants
targeted a security forces convoy in northwest Pakistan. The explosive device was planted on a roadside in the troubled Mohmand tribal agency where security forces are battling Taliban militants.
#2: Earlier, an explosion occurred at 2 a.m. (local time) in an upmarket shopping area close to the city center in Islamabad. Police officer Chaudhry Hafiz Hussain said one watchman died after being taken to a hospital. The second blast was described by authorities as a "low intensity" explosion inside a car in a different part of the capital.
#3: A total of three dozen Taliban militants have been killed across the militancy-plagued Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, Ministry of Interior said in a statement released here on Saturday.
#4: Five Taliban militants were killed and another injured as their explosive device went off prematurely in the eastern Kunar province on Saturday.
#5: Nine Taliban militants were killed and 15 others including three security personnel sustained injuries as clash flared up in Dasht-e-Arch district of Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul on Saturday, a local official said.
#6: At least one civilian was killed and five others were injured following an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan. A spokesman for the provincial police department, Abdul Ahad Chopan, said the incident took place early Saturday morning in Marjah district.
Friday, May 23, 2014
War News for Friday, May 23, 2014
CIA’s Memorial Wall for fallen operatives is shaped by a Northern Virginia stone carver
Operation launched to retake control of Yamgan district
Reported security incidents
#1: A handful of heavily armed insurgents, including suicide bombers, launched a rocket-propelled grenade and gun attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat hours before dawn on Friday, officials said. Indian staff at the mission escaped soon after the shooting began at around 3am. Police said Afghan security forces had killed the attackers, who were holed up in buildings overlooking the consulate, following a firefight that lasted several hours. There were three suicide bombers armed with AK-47, RPG, hand grenade and suicide vests. Our security forces killed all of them. Only five of our security forces were wounded
#2: At least four suspected militants were killed in Pakistan Friday as the army intensified its attacks in the North Waziristan region, media reported. The four were killed as security forces entered the Machis Camp area on the outskirts of agency headquarters in Miramshah which is considered a stronghold of foreign militants, most of them Uzbeks, Dawn online reported.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
War News for Thursday, May 22, 2014
Royal Marine found guilty of murdering Afghan fighter has sentence reduced
Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Royal-Marine-guilty-murdering-Afghan-fighter/story-21127134-detail/story.html#ixzz32RKGHcKl
Read more at http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Royal-Marine-guilty-murdering-Afghan-fighter/story-21127134-detail/story.html#FFxKD3P6K6SF3fjX.99
Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban fighters kidnapped 27 police officers during an assault on a northeastern province in Afghanistan, authorities said today. Gen Fazeluddin Ayar, the police chief in Badakhshan province, said that the 27 officers were hiding in a cave during the Taliban attack yesterday in Yamgan district. The Taliban took the officers hostage and police have launched an effort to try and find them, Ayar said.
Insurgents ambushed several police checkpoints in Badakhshan province, killing at least six police officers in Yamgan district, Ayar said yesterday. The fighting started late Tuesday and lasted till yesterday. Reinforcements were sent to the site, but the police were forced to pull back from the area and were fighting the Taliban forces from surrounding mountains as army helicopters flew overhead, Ayar said. Five insurgents also were killed, and three policemen were wounded, he added.
#2: Pakistani forces on Thursday launched their first major offensive in years against Taliban militants near the Afghan border after several rounds of government-led talks aimed at ending an insurgency in the remote region failed. The offensive targeted the Matchis Camp near the capital of North Waziristan, an area set up to house Afghan refugees but now a hub for local and foreign militants, Siraj Ahmed, the highest government official in the region, told Reuters by telephone.
#3: Gunmen on Wednesday killed a teacher and five members of his family in Balochistan province, officials said, adding that separatist rebels were believed to be responsible. The attack happened in the Panjgour district. Balochistan is home to a long-running separatist conflict that was revived in 2004, and teachers are reportedly targeted both by nationalist organizations and security forces on suspicion of spying.
#4: Villagers in the southern province of Zabul Tuesday found the decapitated bodies of eight local policemen who were seized two weeks ago, deputy provincial governor Mohammad Jan Rassoulyar told AFP. The policemen were snatched by militants after an attack on their convoy. "Their bodies were discovered in Nawbahar district and we have sent elders to bring them to Qalat (the provincial capital)," he said, adding they were beheaded on Tuesday and found soon afterwards.
#5: Eleven insurgents and four army troops were killed on Wednesday evening in a bloody clash between security forces and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan rebels in the restive Pakistani region of North Waziristan, military officials said. The fighting broke out after rebels attacked an army convoy near Mir Ali, the second largest town of the lawless region, said the Inter Services Public Relations - the Pakistani army’s media outlet - in a press statement on Wednesday.
#6: A bomb blast rocked Afghanistan's Ghazni city on Thursday, leaving a dozen people dead or injured, local official Shafiq Nang said.
#7: A bomb blast rocked Pashtunkot in Faryab province 425 km northwest of Kabul on Wednesday, killing one civilian and injuring 10 others on Wednesday, a police spokesman in the province Sayed Mahmoud Yaqubi said. A bomb planted by militants next to a shop in Takhta bazaar of Pashtunkot district went off at around 10:00 a.m. local time today, killing one civilian on the spot and wounding 10 others, some of them in critical condition," Yaqubi told Xinhua.
#8: At least four Taliban militants were killed following a drone strike in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, local officials said Wednesday.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
News of the Day for Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Villagers find the beheaded bodies of 8 police officers who were kidnapped 2 weeks ago in Zabul province.
In other attacks, a suicide bomber in Nangarhar kills 2 police, and injure the district governor; the Taliban say the governor was killed. Attacks on 2 police posts in Laghman province kill a total of 7 police; while an attacks in Badakhshan kill at least 6.
Independent electoral commission fires 3,000 staff accused of fraud in the first round of the presidential election.
Iran denies reports, noted here on Sunday, that it is recruiting Afghans to fight on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria.
Suicide attack on a government building in Nangarhar kills 2 police, injures 9.
Explosion in a shop in Faryab province kills at least 1 civilian, injures 16.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
War News for Tuesday, May 20, 2014
CIA claims it won't use vaccination programmes for intelligence purposes
27 killed as Shiite rebels attack army in north Yemen
Reported security incidents
#1: At least three policemen were killed and eight others injured on Tuesday when two police vehicles collided in Jowzjan province in Afghanistan, an official said.
#2: Three children were killed by a rocket which hit their house in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday. However the Helmand provincial governor blamed the Taliban rebels for the attack.
#3: Three people were killed during an armed clash between two tribes in Balochistan's remote Jhal Magsi district, Levies personnel claimed. A Levies official who requested anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to media told Dawn.com that firing erupted between two tribes in Kot Magsi area of the district.
#4: In another incident one person was killed and another was injured in a landmine blast on Sui-Dera Bugti road (Balochistan). According to the levies sources, some unidentified people had planted a landmine on the Sui-Dera Bugti road.
#5: At least five Afghan national army (ANA) service members were killed in the past 24 hours, an official said Tuesday. Gen. Zahir Azimi, Afghan Defense Ministry Spokesman told media that the Afghan soldiers have been “martyred” during improvised explosive device (IED) blast, but didn’t disclose the exact location.
#6: Ten Taliban militants have been killed as government forces stormed Taliban hideouts in Pachiragam district of the eastern Nangarhar province late Monday night, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Tuesday. "Since launching the joint operations of police and army in parts of Pachiragam district Monday night, 10 Taliban rebels have been killed and six others injured,"the statement added.
#7: According to local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, at least 27 rockets fired from the other side of Durand Line landed in this province. Provincial security Chief Gen. Abdul Habib Syed Khel said the rockets were fired during the past 24 hours.
Monday, May 19, 2014
War News for Monday, May 19, 2014
Reported security incidents
#1: At least 19 militants and four soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since Saturday, the government and security sources said Sunday. According to the defence ministry, the four soldiers were killed in a bomb attack.
#2: Earlier Sunday, nine Taliban militants were killed when their IED went off prematurely in Ghazni, a security source said.
#3: An army trooper was killed while three others injured in an gunfight with militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district. The gun-fight started after government forces laid a cordon around a residential house where three militants are believed to be holed up in Chodur’s Kaisermulah. Sources said wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Qasim was among the militants who have escaped.
#4: Local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, the Pakistani military fired at least 18 rockets in the latest wave of cross-border shelling. Provincial security chief, Abdul Habib Syed Khel said the rockets were fired on Sunday night in Sarkano district.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
News of the Day for Sunday, May 18, 2014
Four Afghan soldiers are killed in an explosion, however so far MoD has provided no further information about the incident including the location.
One student is killed and 2 injured by a roadside bomb while on their way to school in Kunar province.
Interior Ministry says a group of militants are arrested before they can carry out a planned attack in Kabul.
Khaama's Mirwais Jalalzai discusses the problem of opium cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan, including a call from Russia's director of the Federal Drug Control Service for coordinated international leadership of the effort against opium cultivation in Afghanistan. [As this would insult Afghan sovereignty, I do not see it as a realistic proposal. -- C] A recent U.S. report says opium cultivation in Afghanistan is now at record highs, and that heroin addiction in Afghanistan has exploded. Russia is also seriously affected. Jalalzai notes that "Afghanistan is responsible for about three-quarters of the world’s
heroin production, with much of it being cultivated in the Helmand and
Kandahar provinces in the south of the country. However, the US has
concentrated most of its efforts in the east of Afghanistan, which has
relatively little poppy production, as it is safer than working in the
south."
Report say Iran is hiring impoverished Afghans to fight on behalf of the Syrian government. Afghan members of parliament react angrily to the news.
Four Afghan police in Kandahar are sentenced to death for murder in a kidnap for ransom plot.
Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction John Sopko says that Afghanistan will continue to receive $10 billion annually after the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. The U.S. has spent more on Afghan reconstruction than on any nation in history, including Germany following WWII.
Command Sgt. Maj. Martin R. Barreras died Tuesday at Joint Base San Antonio of injuries suffered on May 6 when his unit was attacked by small arms fire in Afghanistan.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
War News for Saturday, May 17, 2014
Injured sailor returns to Iowa after extended rehab
Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Warnings-power-sockets-military-base-fatal-blaze/story-21106862-detail/story.html#ixzz31y7ptmPb
Read more at http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Warnings-power-sockets-military-base-fatal-blaze/story-21106862-detail/story.html#M2bJFQz9kAwXwwfY.99
Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Warnings-power-sockets-military-base-fatal-blaze/story-21106862-detail/story.html#ixzz31y7ptmPb
Read more at http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Warnings-power-sockets-military-base-fatal-blaze/story-21106862-detail/story.html#M2bJFQz9kAwXwwfY.99
Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Warnings-power-sockets-military-base-fatal-blaze/story-21106862-detail/story.html#ixzz31y7ptmPb
Read more at http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Warnings-power-sockets-military-base-fatal-blaze/story-21106862-detail/story.html#M2bJFQz9kAwXwwfY.99
Reported security incidents
#1: At least seven people were wounded in a blast in Bannu, officials said on Friday, including two policemen. The officers were among seven hurt in a motorcycle bomb attack targeting a police van in the northwestern town of Bannu, which has a history of violence, much of it targeting security forces.
#2: a commander of Oppositions network with his five of men killed in an operation conducted by Afghan security forces in Nangarhar province last evening. The commander along with his men wanted to enter Goshta district, Nangarhar province for carrying out of terrorist attacks, targeted by police forces and killed.
#2: In one attack, one civilian was killed while 12 civilians were wounded when a bomb attached to a motorcycle went off in Khowja Bahawoddin district of northern Takhar province around midday on Saturday, a provincial police spokesman Khalil Aseer told Xinhua.
#3: Earlier on Saturday morning, five militants were killed when a bomb they were planting along a road was detonated prematurely in the country's eastern province of Ghazni.
#4: Elsewhere, four Afghan army soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing over the past 24 hours, the defense ministry said in a statement without providing details.
#5: Afghan security forces killed 38 militants in military operations in separate provinces within the last 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
#6: A Tajik diplomat was injured following an attack by unknown gunmen in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan on Friday, local officials said. The officials further added that the incident took place after a group of armed militants ambushed the vehicle of the diplomat while he was on his way to Kunduz province from northeastern Badakhshan province.
#7: Coordinated blasts were reported in western Herat province of Afghanistan on Friday night. A local security official said at least one policeman was killed and four others were injured following the twin blasts. The official further added that the incident took place around 8:00 pm local time after an explosive planted in a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Islam Qala. He said the Afghan police forces were inspecting the blast when the second explosion took place that left one policeman martyred
Friday, May 16, 2014
War News for Friday, May 16, 2014
4.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Balochistan
Reported security incidents
#1: Police in Pakistan say a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded outside a restaurant near the capital, Islamabad, late on May 15 -- wounding at least 15 people. The bombing in the garrison city of Rawalpindi occurred a few hours after computer hackers broke into website of the city’s police.
#2: One person was killed and five others, including a policeman, sustained injuries in a clash between the police and protesters outside the police station in the Wapda Colony here on Thursday, official sources said. The sources said that a team of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) along with a police party raided a market inside the Lakki Gate and arrested 22 alleged power thieves.
Meanwhile, the relatives and activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also reached the police station and exchanged harsh words with the Station House Officer, Taj Ali, and resorted to indiscriminate fire, the sources added. A passer-by identified as Meher Din, hailing from Bhakkar in Punjab, was killed.
#3: Seven anti-government militants were killed and five others injuries as clash erupted in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province with Kunduz city as its capital, 250 km north of Kabul on Friday, police said. "A clash erupted in Daftani and Tapai Godamdar villages of Dasht-e-Archi district this morning as a result seven armed militants were killed and five others injured," provincial police chief Ghulam Mustafa Mohsini told newsmen here.
#4: According to reports, an Afghan policeman has killed his four family members along with his commander in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The incident took place in Arghandab district of Kandahar province late Thursday, a local security official said.
#5: At least one civilian was killed and 27 others including policemen were injured following an explosion in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Friday. Local government officials in Nangarhar confirmed the incident took place in Ghani Khel district early Friday morning.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
War News for Thursday, May 15, 2014
Afghan election commission formally announces second round of presidential polls -- elections will be held on June 14
Final Afghan vote results released
Results Force Runoff in Afghan Presidential Election
Inside rebel tunnels in Homs -- CNN video
Reported security incidents
#1: A shootout between Afghan and Pakistani border guards killed one Afghan policeman on Thursday in a remote southern region where the border between the two countries is poorly marked, officials said. According to police spokesman Zia Durrani in the Afghan province of Kandahar, the skirmish started shortly after dawn and lasted for about two hours. The two sides engaged in sporadic exchanges, using rifles and firing rockets across the boundary, he said
#2: update An unmanned aircraft fired missiles in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area on Wednesday, killing ten suspected terrorists. According to sources, the drone fired three missiles targeting suspected militants in Nazyan area of Khyber Agency.
#3: Up to 10 people were injured in an explosion Thursday in western Afghan province of Herat, police said. "At around midday, an explosive-laden motorcycle was detonated at the middle of Obe district bazaar. The blast occurred when a police vehicle was running the area, leaving eight civilians and two police wounded," the district police chief Shiraqa Alokozai told Xinhua.
#4: In another development, 10 militants, including three local Taliban leaders were killed when the militants launched an attack against police checkpoints in Gereshk district, southern Helmand province, the provincial government said in a statement, adding no police were hurt in the attack which occurred early Thursday morning.
#5: Eight people, including three police and five militants, were killed Wednesday evening in a skirmish in southern Afghan province of Kandahar, near Pakistan border, source said. "Five militants raided Border Police facilities in Spin Boldak district. Two militants set off their suicide jackets. Three militants were killed by police firing," a police spokesman Zia Durrani told Xinhua. He said three border police were killed while five others got wounded as a result of exchange of the fire lasting for three hours in the district in southern of the provincial capital Kandahar city.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
War News for Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Pakistan Taliban leaders intervene in rival infighting
Two Indian journalists asked to leave Pakistan
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
War News for Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Keith Maupin, MSgt. Matt Maupin: Dad gets to speak to Iraqi judge trying son's confessed killer
PAKISTAN: Is the battle with the media becoming the military's Waterloo?
Reported security incidents
#1: In one attack, a senior official and two policemen were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up a police vehicle in Zana Khan district in Ghazni province, Xinhua reported.
#2: In the second attack, eight civilians were injured when two rockets hit the provincial capital Ghazni city.
At least eight civilians were wounded when a Taliban mortar shell struck a bazaar in Ghazni city, the provincial capital of eastern Afghan province of Ghazni on Tuesday, sources said.
#3: Overnight, Taliban gunmen also opened fire on a police check post in the Sangin district of Helmand province, killing three policemen and injuring four, according to Omar Zwak, spokesman for the local government in Helmand. A week ago, the last U.S. Marines unit pulled out of Sangin--a district the U.S. military considers the most violent in the country--leaving Afghan forces to fight on their own.
#4: A local Awami National Party (ANP) leader was killed by unknown persons in Peshawar's Kohati area on Tuesday, DawnNnews reported. According to the police, former Union counsellor Anwarul Haq was present at his shop when unknown persons opened fire on him. He died on the spot.
#5: A navy personnel was today shot dead in Pakistan’s biggest city in an apparent target killing, the fifth such attack on a naval personnel since last year. The deceased, from Punjab province, was working as a cook in the Pakistan Navy, police said.
#6: At least two teachers were killed on Tuesday when unidentified gunmen fired at them near a government high school in Pakistan, media reported. The incident took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Hangu district, Dawn online reported.
#7: According to local authorities in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan, at least three policemen were killed following an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion. Provincial police spokesman, Abdul Manan Raufi confirming the report said the incident took place on Monday evening. Mr. Raufi further added that two policemen were also injured following the explosion.
#8: At least 111 Taliban militants were killed during military operations in various provinces of Afghanistan in the past 24 hours. Azimi further added that four Afghan national army soldiers were also martyred following improvised explosive device (IED) attack.
DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Deric M. Rasmussen
Monday, May 12, 2014
War News for Monday, May 12, 2014
Reported security incidents
#1: Two rockets landed just outside the heavily guarded airport, U.S.-led coalition reported four rockets hit the U.S.-run Bagram Airbase near capital. No one was killed.
Militants fired rockets at the Kabul International Airport and Bagram airfield in central Parwan province on Monday, causing no casualties, an official said. Two rockets fell near the runway and terminal of the Kabul airport at 5:00am on Monday, a security official said on condition of anonymity. Operations were suspended for an hour, he said. Separately, three rockets were fired from Baltokhel and Anbakhel areas into the Bagram airfield in Parwan, the provincial police
#2: Fighters also stormed a government building in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing two policemen and two government workers, said Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the provincial police chief. The three attackers were killed, he added.
Taliban fighters opened fire and stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan in the most serious of a string of attacks across the country early on Monday, May 12. Following the attack, police surrounded the provincial justice ministry building in the city of Jalabad and were engaging in sporadic exchanges of gunfire with the militants inside, said General Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the provincial police chief of Nangarhar province.
Seven people were killed as Taliban insurgent members targeted a government agency building in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Monday, sources said.
#3: Also on Monday in eastern in Afghanistan, groups of militants, including some on motorbikes, attacked police checkpoints, killing three people and wounding eight. The attacks happened on the outskirts of the city of Ghazni in the province by the same name, said deputy provincial governor, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi. Two women and a policeman were killed, while two policemen and six civilians, including three children, were wounded, added Ahmadi.
#4: Elsewhere in Jalalabad, attackers targeted a police vehicle and detonated a roadside bomb, wounding six people, including two policemen.
#5: Seven police were shot dead early Monday as a security checkpoint came under attack in Sangin district of southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, an official said. "The militants launched an attack on Katawaz police checkpoint. They killed two officers who were on duty. Five other sleeping police cops were shot and killed in their bed overnight," the district governor, Sulaiman Shah Sarwawani, told Xinhua.
#6: At least 47 Taliban militants were killed following military operations conducted by Afghan national security forces in the past 24 hours.
#7: Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Musadiq Khalili survived an explosion on Monday, but two of his bodyguards were wounded in the attack on Monday. Interior Ministry spokesman Siddique Siddiqui said the blast took place at around 10:30am in the Astalif district of Kabul. He said the deputy minister’s vehicle struck the roadside bomb on the way to the scenic town north of the capital. His guards were slightly wounded.
#8: According to Pakistani security officials, unknown gunmen torched at least truck carrying NATO armoured vehicles in Peshawar city of Pakistan. The officials further added that the incident took place on Sunday night near Ring Road in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station. A local police official said the watchman was initially taken hostage by the gunmen and then set three truck on fire.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
News of the Day for Sunday, May 11, 2014
Car bombing in front of a hospital in Daman, southern Kandahar province kills 5 civilians and injures 39 people including 3 Afghan soldiers. According to the Afghan Times, the soldiers were distributing aid; but Khaama merely describes the target as a convoy of Afghan and Coalition forces.
ISAF service member dies in a non-combat incident in northern Afghanistan. No further information as of now.
Interior Ministry says 55 Taliban killed in a military operation in Farah province. As is normally the case with IM announcements, there is no mention of government or civilian casualties. (For those of you too young to remember, this "body count" style of reporting is reminiscent of the U.S. public affairs style in Vietnam. We know how that turned out.)
The Defense Ministry does admit to 2 soldiers killed and also claims 90 militants killed in various operations. Whether you find this credible is up to you.
Hezb-e-Islami Shura endorses Ashraf Ghani, saying he is the most inclusive candidate for president, while third-place finisher in the first round of voting Zalmai Rassoul endorses Abdullah, also touting him as representing all the people. (Most observers see the Rassoul endorsement as more important.)
Afghan Foreign Affairs Ministry calls on Iran to review its executions of Afghan nationals and presses for an agreement that will end the practice. (As readers will recall, Iran often puts migrants to death accusing them of drug smuggling; whereas their families claim they were merely economic migrants. This has been a major source of friction between the two countries.)
Insurgents abduct 9 mine workers in Herat province. (Since I know of no particular religious or political objection to marble mining this is likely a kidnapping for ransom.)
Saturday, May 10, 2014
War News for Saturday, May 10, 2014
Reported security incidents
#1: Six persons were injured when a blast occurred near Kohati Gate in Peshawar on Saturday, a private news channel reported on Saturday. Initial reports suggested that a hand grenade was hurled that caused the blast and injured six persons. A house was also damaged due to the impact.
#2: Two guerrillas were killed and an armyman was injured on Saturday in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir when the army foiled an infiltration bid on the Line of Control.
#3: As many as eleven armed militants were killed and nine others wounded during a spate of operation in some provinces of the country, the ministry of defense said in a statement Saturday. According to the statement, in Maiwand district of the province (Kandahar), nine insurgents were killed and four others wounded, while in Marja district, two rebels lost life in counterinsurgents’ operation.
#4: Seven Taliban militants including a key commander Mullah Abdul Qadir were killed in the southern Zabul province on Saturday, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here. "Acting upon intelligence report, the units of police raided Taliban hideout in Dalai village of Shamalzai district early Saturday morning killing seven rebels including a key commander Mullah Abdul Qadir," the statement said.
#5: Afghan security forces have killed 63 Taliban militants and injured 41 others in Ghazni province since Friday night and the operation is still continuing, an army spokesman Nazifullah Sultani said Saturday.
#6: Six Taliban militants lost their lives and six others sustained injuries as their explosive device went off prematurely in the northern Kunduz province on Friday, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. "A dozen Taliban militants were busy in making roadside bomb in a house in Chardara district of Kunduz province on Friday evening but the device exploded accidently killing six rebels on the spot and wounding six others," the statement added.
#7: At least three civilians were killed following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in eastern Logar province of Afghanistan. The incident took place early Saturday in Pul-e-Alam city of Logar province after a civilian vehicle struck with an improvised explosive device (IED).
#8: At least three Afghan national army soldiers were killed in separate improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on Saturday. Gen. Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the ministry of defense of Afghanistan said at least two Afghan national army soldiers were martyred in two separate IED attacks in western Ghor province of Afghanistan.
Friday, May 9, 2014
War News for Friday, May 09, 2014
Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan police say the Taliban have staged a large-scale attack involving more than 100 fighters on a remote police checkpoint in western Afghanistan that wounded 11 police officers. Dilghan Khakrezwal, the deputy police chief in Farah province, says the Taliban attacked the outpost in Bala Boluk district.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
War News for Thursday, May 08, 2014
Four Slovenian soldiers remain in Afghanistan: report
Reported security incident:
#1: A roadside bomb killed at least eight soldiers and wounded several others in a restive Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, the military said. The bomb exploded as a military convoy passed in the village of Ghulamkhan in troubled North Waziristan.
#2: Five militants were killed and three injured as clashes between two factions of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) continued in North Waziristan Agency on Wednesday, sources said. The fighting erupted between the groups led by Sheher Yar and Khan Said alias Sajna in Shawal, a mountainous area near Afghan border, on Tuesday.
#3: One soldier was killed while three other soldiers were wounded earlier on Wednesday in a bomb attack in southern Afghan province of Kandahar, according a source. "An army Jeep was struck by a roadside bomb in Zharay district at around 6:30 a.m. local time, leaving one army soldier killed and three others wounded," a security official in the district told Xinhua.
#4: Four mine planters of Taliban killed during planting of mines in Ghazni province last night. Nazifullah Sultani spokesman of 203 army corps of that province said BNA, the mine planters wanted to plant a mine in Asfandi region, Ghazni province the mine exploded and killed them.
At least 29 Taliban militants were killed following military operations conducted by Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers in eastern Ghazni province. A spokesman for the Afghan National Army Thunder Corps, Nazifullah Sultani said the militants were killed during the operations in the past 24 hours.
#5: At least seven anti-government armed militants were killed following a drone strike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Local governmetn officials in Nangarhar province said the militants were killed on Wednesday morning in Chaparhar district.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
War News for Wednesday, May 07, 2014
Reported security incidents
#1: At least 12 militants died during a shootout between rival factions in a restive tribal region near the Afghan border Tuesday, officials said, while two died in a separate attack. Supporters of Tehreek-e-Taliban commander Khan Said Sajna and followers of the late TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud clashed in the Shawal area of the troubled North Waziristan district, a security official told AFP. Four other militants were wounded during the gunfight which was still continuing, the official said late Tuesday. Earlier in the day two militants were killed in a bomb blast at a bazaar in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, known as a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda linked militants.
#2: two members of a pro-government militia were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in northwest on Tuesday, officials said. The incident happened in the Mastak area of the Khyber tribal district, 71 kilometres southwest of Peshawar. "Two people were killed and three injured when their vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosive device," local administration official Ali Sher told AFP.
#3: An FBI agent was arrested in Pakistan this week after he attempted to board a domestic flight between Karachi and Islamabad with ammunition and knives, police said Wednesday. The man was arrested Monday with fifteen 9 mm bullets, three small knives and a wrench, according to police Superintendent Malir Rao Anwar. All of those items, along with his laptop computer and cell phone, have been taken to a forensics lab for analysis. The agent was visiting Pakistan as part of an assignment to train local police, a U.S. law enforcement official said.
#4: A militant blew himself up during a clash with the security forces in Bandkurai area on Tuesday, official sources said. The sources said the police and security forces were tipped off that some militants were present in a house in Javedabad village.The police and security forces, the sources said, besieged a house in Javedabad village and asked the militants to surrender. However, the militants opened fire on the police instead of surrendering to them.
#5: Afghan forces have killed 50 Taliban militants, including a shadowy district governor in Ghazni province on Tuesday, a local official Shafiq Nang said.
#6: Ten police were killed while three others wounded in two bomb attacks in western Afghan province of Herat, police said on Tuesday. In one attack, three Afghan Civil Order Police cops were killed and two police officers were wounded when their jeep was struck by a roadside bombing in Obe district on Tuesday Morning.
#7: At least eight civilians belonging to a single family were killed following an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in western Herat province of Afghanistan.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
War News for Tuesday, May 06, 2014
Two Italians arrested Afghanistan
Reported security incidents
#1: At least two policemen were killed and four others injured when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's western Herat Province. Local police chief Shir Agha Alokozay said the incident occurred early on May 6 in Herat's Obe district.
#2: Four Afghan Border Police men were killed and four injured late Monday in an attack in Ghoryan district of the province, 640 km west of Afghan capital Kabul.
#3: Gunmen attacked three container trucks carrying NATO supplies en route to Afghanistan in Pakistan's troubled northwest on Monday, killing two people, officials said. The trucks came under fire in the Wazir Dhand area of Khyber, one of seven districts that make up Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, as they were on their way to Afghanistan.
#4: update - Militants attacked a police checkpoint in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing five policemen and two civilians during a two-hour-long shootout with security forces, officials said. The brazen assault took place in Gorzaiwan district near Maimana - the capital city of Faryab province - early in the morning, Mohammad Nahim deputy provincial police chief told AFP. “Five police and two civilians were killed in the attack,” he said.
#5: At least two people were killed and one was injured Tuesday in a blast in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, a media report said. An improvised explosive device or a home-made bomb was planted in the Miramshah market which later exploded, Dawn online reported.
#6: The ministry of interior in a statement said at least two children were victimized by landmine planted by the insurgents in southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday. The incident took place in Maruf district of the province, where the mine had been freshly planted in an area in Dangar area of Maruf district, said the statement adding two children were killed when they hit the mine.
DoD: Pfc. Daniela Rojas
