War News for Thursday, July 31, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: Units of Afghan police backed by the army have killed more than two dozen Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, a statement of Ministry of Interior released here on Thursday said. "Personnel of police backed by the army during series of operations conducted in parts of Wardak, Nangarhar, Faryab and Kandahar provinces over the past 24 hours have left dead 25 Taliban insurgents," the statement said.

#2: The Pakistani military fired at least 118 rockets in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, local officials said. The officials further added that the shelling started on Wednesday night from the other side of the Durand line.

War News for Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani officials say the country's military forces have thwarted an attack on a checkpoint near the Afghan border, killing at least six militants and injuring nine others. Military officials said some 70 militants attacked the border post in the Dir tribal district in Pakistan's restive northwest, late on July 29.

#2: a military officer was mysterious assassinated in one of military bases in Badghis province yesterday. The officer was targeted while his security duty in Badghis-Herat highway and lost his life. A police commander of Badghis-Herat highway said BNA, the officer may be killed by his colleagues who were affiliated with the Taliban group.

#3: the national army forces started extensive operation in Sangeen district, Helmand province.
Spokesman of Helmand governor said that the operation started yesterday in Sangeen district of the province. He confirmed dead of 20 armed Taliban in the operation which Mullah Nasir so-called former district of Sangeen is among the dead. In the operation, a police officer was also martyred and four others wounded.

#4: At least 13 people including policemen were injured following an explosion in central Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. Local government officials said the incident took place in Tarinkot city, leaving two policemen and eleven civilians injured.

#5: Nearly 60 Taliban militants and 6 members of the Afghan security forces were killed during clashes in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Provincial governor spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, said clashes continued until Tuesday afternoon in Hesarak district. Abdulzai further added that Taliban militants launched attacks on security check posts early Tuesday morning.

War News for Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The DoD is reporting the death of Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Yeshabel Villotcarrasco who died from a non-combat related incident aboard USS James E. Williams in the Red Sea Thursday, June 19th.

US weapons for Afghans may end up with Taliban: Audit


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber Tuesday assassinated a powerful cousin of outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a major blow to the country's ruling clan that risks destabilizing the volatile south. Hashmat Karzai was in his fort-like home outside Kandahar city greeting visitors on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr when the blast took place. The attacker, a man in his 20s who hid the explosives in his headgear, was allowed into the house as a guest, according to local officials. Hashmat Karzai and a bodyguard were killed on the spot.

#2: At least six people including two policemen were killed in firing at a provincial lawmaker's house in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Lower Dir, local media reported. Geo TV said that some unknown gunmen opened fire at the house of member provincial assembly (MPA) Bakht Baidar in Chaqdara area of Lower Dir, a district located in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The MPA was not at his residence when the attack took place, but the firing left his brother, two policemen and three guests killed.

#3: Dozens of Taliban militants launched attacks on security check posts in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan early Tuesday morning. According to local government officials, the attack was carried out on secuity check posts in Hesarak district. Mashriqwal further added that both the Taliban militants and Afghan security forces suffered casualties during the ongoing clashes. However, he did not disclsoe further information regarding the exact number of casualties.


DoD: Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Yeshabel Villotcarrasco

War News for Monday, July 28, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: A tragic incident names as the Khuzdar blast took place in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district this Monday. About seven passengers were injured in a blast that was targeting a bus according to Levies personnel.

#2: A woman was killed and her son as well as three security personnel were injured in a cross firing incident during a search operation in Lower Dir region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

#3: A local police official of Ghoor province survived from Taliban attack. The police official of Tolak district while going to Cheghcheran capital of the province, his vehicle was targeted by armed Taliban. A local official of Tolak district, Ghoor province said BNA; there was no casualty to local police official in the district.

#4: In several clearing operations conducted by National army forces six armed oppositions were killed in different parts of the country. Ministry of National Defense press office spokesman said

News of the Day for Sunday, July 27, 2014

District Police Chief Bismillah Jan of Registan, Kandahar province, is killed along with 5 guards in an attack on his home. Spokesman says 7 attackers also killed. The same spokesperson also says 24 militants and one police officer killed in a separate attack on a check post in Zherai district. [As usual, one has to question such a highly asymmetrical casualty total.]

In another attack in Spin Boldak, militants enter a school next to the home of provincial police commander General Abdul Razziq, and fire on his house. Six attackers are ultimately killed along with a civilian and a border police officer. In this account, however, the police chief of Registan was killed by a roadside bomb. [Fog of war. Most accounts accord with the home attack version.]

Four civilians are killed and 4 injured by a motorcycle bomb in Helmand.

Pakistan artillery fire into Kunar province destroys a home and leaves a 13 year old boy in critical condition.

NYT's Azam Ahmed says Taliban are making territorial gains. Excerpt:

Taliban fighters are scoring early gains in several strategic areas near the capital this summer, inflicting heavy casualties and casting new doubt on the ability of Afghan forces to contain the insurgency as the United States moves to complete its withdrawal of combat troops, according to Afghan officials and local elders. The Taliban have found success beyond their traditional strongholds in the rural south and are now dominating territory near crucial highways and cities that surround Kabul, the capital, in strategic provinces like Kapisa and Nangarhar.

Their advance has gone unreported because most U.S. forces have left the field and officials in Kabul have largely refused to talk about it. The Afghan ministries have not released casualty statistics since an alarming rise in army and police deaths last year.

 [As readers know, I have been noting the complete absence of army and police casualties in Interior Ministry reports all year. Since we know these reports are bogus, I will link to them only for purposes of mockery. -- C]

Mullah Omar seems to agree. Saying he believes the Taliban are winning the war, "In his Id message, posted on Taliban website, Omar said that the Taliban will continue fighting, adding, “We believe the war in Afghanistan will come to an end when all foreign invaders pull out of Afghanistan and a holy Islamic and independent regime prevails here.” Omar's whereabouts are said to be "unknown," but he is evidently being sheltered by Pakistani intelligence.

Update:  Ainuddin Khudairaham, convicted of killing 3 U.S. Marines in August, 2012, is sentence to 7 1/2 years in prison. The light sentence results from a finding that he was under 18 at the time of the attack, and is the maximum sentence for juveniles under Afghan law. The Marines were training Afghan police at Forward Operating Base Delhi in Helmand province. As Kudairaham lacks a birth certificate, his age was estimated by means of a bone scan. Killed were Staff Sgt. Scott Dickinson, 29, of San Diego; Cpl. Richard Rivera Jr., 20, of Oxnard and Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr., 21, of Oceanside, N.Y.

War News for Saturday, July 26, 2014

The DoD is reporting the death of Pfc. Donnell A. Hamilton, Jr. who died Thursday, July 24th, at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Texas from an illness sustained in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

Ex-Chief of C.I.A. Shapes Response to Detention Report


Reported security incidents
#1: This Saturday morning, a suspected militant has been reportedly killed by the security forces in the Jannikhel area of Pakistan's Bannu District. The security forces were reportedly attacked while they were conducting a search operation in the Frontier Region in Jannikhel. The security personnel subsequently responded to the assault with retaliatory firing.

#2: Two ANA officers were targeted by terrorists and killed in Herat province this morning. According to national defense ministry press office to BNA, two ANA officers were going to their work, targeted by terrorists and killed.

#3: Afghan National Army (ANA) lunched two separate operations in which killed 8 armed rebels in Helmand province last night.

#4: An officer of ANA forces was martyred in explosion of a magnetic mine which was placed in a vehicle of ANA forces in Kabul province this morning.

#5: At least 24 militants were killed during military operations by Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers during the past 48 hours.


DoD: Pfc. Donnell A. Hamilton

DoD: Staff Sgt. Benjamin G. Prange

DoD: Pfc. Keith M. Williams

War News for Friday, July 25, 2014

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, July 24th.

Last Tornados to go to Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: SLOVAK soldiers in Afghanistan came under fire at the Kandahar Air Field base on the morning of July 24, but none of them suffered injuries.

#2: Taliban insurgents halted minibuses in western Afghanistan, identified 14 Shiite passengers and shot them dead by the side of the road overnight Friday, an official said.

#3: At least two policemen were shot dead by militants Friday in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. According to a police official, the militants attacked the policemen in the New Sariab area of Quetta, Dawn online reported.

#4: A bomb on Thursday killed at least two soldiers in North Waziristan, where the Army is carrying out a major offensive against Taliban militants, officials said. The incident occurred on Thursday evening near the border with Afghanistan just northwest of Miranshah, a statement from the military said. “Two soldiers embraced shahadat [martyrdom] Thursday evening in an improvised explosive device blast in the Ghulam Khan area,” the statement said, issued late Thursday.

#5: At least two people were killed in a roadside Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Kulachi tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan district, Police sources said the explosion on Kulachi-Loni road left two local traders dead. The victims were passing through the area when their motorcycle struck an IED, police sources said, adding that explosives were planted to target law enforcement personnel.

#6: a Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was shot dead in FR Jandola Bazaar. In a separate incident at FR Jandola Bazaar near the South Waziristan tribal agency, an FC soldier was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

#7: According to BNA, Interior Minister with releasing a declaration said, the terrorist incident occurred at 9:30 this morning that a quantity of explosive materials planted in a motorcycle in Khwaja Ghor district, Takhar province. The terrorist tragedy, in the Ramadan month, martyred six of our compatriots and wounded 28 others.

War News for Thursday, July 24, 2014

DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation


Reported security incidents
#1: Two female aid workers who were shot dead by gunmen in western Afghanistan on Thursday were Finnish, according to the charity they worked for. “With deep sadness we confirm that today, July 24th, two Finnish expatriate female staff members of IAM (International Assistance Mission) have been killed in Herat,” the statement signed by acting executive director Heini Makila said.

#2: A bombing in a market in northern Afghanistan killed six people on Thursday. The attack in the market was aimed at a police car but the police escaped unharmed, said Sonatullah Timor, the spokesman for the Takhar provincial government. The bomb, which was placed on a motorcycle, wounded 26 people.

#3: a separate attack in the east killed a local police commander and his bodyguard, officials said. In a separate incident, a suicide bomber detonated his payload at a checkpoint in the eastern Nangarhar province, killing a local police commander and his bodyguard, according to police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal. He said the bomber shook hands with the commander before the explosion. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a media statement.

#3: As many as 20 local and foreign terrorists were killed and four isolated terrorist hideouts destroyed by aerial strikes in Shawal valley on Wednesday as security forces cleared major part of Mirali.

#4: Unknown persons killed the personal secretary (PS) of former Member National Assembly Nasir Khan Afridi, in Peshawar’s Tajabad area on Thursday. According to the police, Bismillah Khan was traveling on Ring Road in Peshawar's Tajabad area when unknown motorcycle-riding gunmen opened fire on him.The attackers fled from the scene after the attack.

#5: Four ANA forces were wounded in a bomb blast in Logar province this morning. The incident occurred in Sheshqala region, Pul-e-Alam city capital of Logar province while a vehicle carrying ANA forces to Kabul.

#6: Seven armed Taliban including a local commander of them were killed in recent clashes in Faryab province last night. In the clashes four militaries were also wounded. The clashes started while tens Taliban fighters with their weapons attacked on several security posts in Ghoormach district.

#7: A heavy explosion rocked Khair Khana area in capital Kabul late Wednesday night. Preliminary reports suggest the blast took place due to a magnetic bomb which went off near a residential house. There are also reports of a blast in Microryan area of Kabul city. However, the security officials have not commented regarding this so far.

#8: At least 19 Taliban insurgents were killed in separate airstrikes carried out by NATO-led coalition forces in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

#9: Taliban militants killed a religious cleric in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, on charges of having links and cooperation with the government. The provincial government media office said Wednesday that the religious cleric – Mawlavi Hashim was initially abducted by Taliban militants on Monday night.

War News for Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Taliban beating back Afghan security forces near Kabul

Taliban grab land in Afghan Faryab province after fierce fighting


Reported security incidents
#1: Two Nepali nationals were killed while another was injured when a Taliban suicide bomber exploded an explosives-laden motorbike into an Afghan police compound near Kabul International Airport today. All three were working as security guards for DynCorp.

#2: Thirteen militants were killed and scores of their hideouts were destroyed on Wednesday in air strikes by Pakistan’s fighter jets in the Shawal area of North Waziristan tribal region, ARY News reports.

#3: One Afghan police was killed and three others, including a district police chief, injured in a suicide bombing in Kunduz city, the provincial capital of northern Kunduz province, on Wednesday morning, a source said. "Chardara District police Chief Ghulam Mehoiddin was travelling to his office. A militant detonated his explosive vest on a narrow bridge while the official's car was passing by, killing one police and injuring three others, including Mehoiddin," the provincial police spokesman Sayyed Sarwar Housini told Xinhua.

#4: At least 37 Taliban militants were killed during military operations by Afghan national army soldiers during the past 24 hours.

#5: A transport plane belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) made precautionary landing in western Herat province of Afghanistan. A security official in Herat province confirmed the report and said no casualties were reported following the incident which took place on Tuesday.

War News for Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: A Taliban suicide attacker riding a motorbike killed at least four foreigners in a compound in Kabul today, police said, in the latest blast to rock the capital during an impasse over presidential election results. The attack hit close to the outer perimeter of Kabul airport. “Our initial reports show the explosion took place inside the foreigners’ compound — four foreigners were killed and six were wounded,” Kabul police chief Zahir Zahir told AFP.

#2: Thirty-eight armed oppositions were killed in several clearing operations carried out by Afghan security forces in different parts of the country yesterday. Ministry of Interior press office said BNA, Afghan security forces conducted several clearing operations in relevant areas of Helmand, Farah, Herat, Ghazni, Kandahar, Badakhshan, Parwan and Faryab provinces, in which 38 Taliban militants were killed, 13 injured

#3: Taliban militants after three days of fighting with security personnel have made headway and occupied land in Qaisar district of Faryab province 425 km northwest of Kabul, police said Tuesday. "Taliban rebels attacked security check points in the western part of Qaisar district three days ago, which triggered heavy battle between the two sides and the militants after three days of fighting were able to occupy Shakh area on Monday night," deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Naeem Andarabi told reporters here.

#4: Five Afghan civilians were killed with one civilian wounded Monday evening when Taliban insurgents attacked a vehicle in eastern province of Laghman, authorities said on Tuesday morning. "On Monday evening, armed militants fired on a running sedan along a road in Alinagar district, killing five civilians and injuring one other," the provincial government said in a statement. It said an off-duty policeman was among the killed. The motive behind the attack remained unknown.

#5: In a separate incident, a local leader was shot dead along two other civilians in Lashkar Gah city, the provincial capital of southern Helmand province late on Monday, according to provincial governor spokesman

#6:  Three mine planters of Taliban were killed in explosion of their own mine in Helmand province.

#7: Kabul (BNA) Explosion of a mine blast in 3rd section of Khairkhana area, caused wounding of two civilians. An eyewitness said BNA reporter, the mine had been installed in gate of the wall of meteorology which caused wounding of two civilians.

#7: At least five Taliban militants were killed following a premature suicide blast in eastern Paktika province of Afghanistan. According to local government officials, the incident took place late Monday in Sorubi district.

#8: At least three Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following separate improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) said Tuesday that the Afghan national army soldiers were martyred in the past 24 hours

War News for Monday, July 21, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber targeted a police convoy in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province today, killing two people, a policeman and a civilian, a local official said. The attack took place in the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor. He said the explosion also wounded 15 people, eight policemen and seven civilians. The police convoy was en route to the district of Sangin for an operation there, he added.

#2: At least 12 Taliban militants were killed following a drone strike in western Herat province of Afghanistan. Local government officials in Herat city, the air strike was carried out late yesterday in Obe district.

#3: The Afghan Defense Ministry on Monday said that the army killed 31 militants during operations in the past 24 hours. Three ANA soldiers were killed in bomb attacks elsewhere in the country over the same period, according to the statement.

#4: As a result of a road side mine explosion three civilians were martyred in Ashkank region, Charborjak district of Nimroz province.

#5: Heavy clashes continue in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan after scores of Taliban militants launched a major offensive two days back. According to local government officials, the gun battle still continue between Afghan forces and Taliban militants in Qaisar district.

News of the Day for Sunday, July 20, 2014

Roadside bomb in Nimroz kills 3 civilians, injures 3 more.

NATO drone attack said to kill 12 Taliban in Herat province.

A NATO airstrike in Pul-e-Alam, Logar,  kills 16 militants.

Vote audit briefly suspended due to a dispute between the candidates  but it appears to have resumed.

A 10 year old girl who was raped by a Mullah faces honor killing. Yes folks, this is really how traditional Afghan society works. According to Khaama,

According to reports, the family of the young rape victim is under the pressure by village elders, who are insisting to kill the girl because “she had brought shame to them.”

The girl was reportedly protected in a women’s shelter in Kunduz province but was returned to her family on Tuesday. According to an official indictment, the rape was so brutal and had nearly died because treatment as delayed. She had suffered a break in the wall between the vagina and rectum, the New York Times reported.

In the meantime, the 45-year-old Mullah has claimed that the girl had promised to marry him and rejected that she is 10-year-old. The mullah has claimed that the girl was 17-year-old, but the mother of the victim has said she was only 10-year-old. Hospital records indicate the child weighed just 40 pounds and had yet to start menstruating.

The full account from the New York Times is here. Additional details are, believe it or not, even more appalling.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the 12th Century marches on as Christians flee Mosul under threat of a special "tax" or forced conversion. Seven explosions in Shiite districts of Baghdad on Saturday killed 24 people, with the Islamic State claiming responsibility for at least 4 of them. An all female armed brigade enforces strict laws on women in Raqqa, including full coverage in public and male chaperonage. More than 1 million refugees have entered Kurdistan. Kurdish National Security Director Masrour Barzani says the Iraqi army cannot defeat IS and that western powers will need to intervene. He also says that the peshmerga will need heavy arms to confront the equipment stolen by IS from the Iraqi army, should the IS eventually try to attack Kurdistan. (For now, the expanded borders of Kurdistan are secure, as IS chooses to confront the weak Baghdad state.)

War News for Saturday, July 19, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region killed at least eight militants on Saturday, intelligence officials said, as Pakistani forces continued their offensive in the area. The strike targeted a compound in the Datta Khel area, close to the border with Afghanistan, early Saturday.

#2: A bomb explosion near a vehicle of the security forces killed three people and injured 26 others in Balochistan’s volatile Khuzdar district, Dunya News reported. The explosion took place on Jinnah Road in Khuzdar Bazaar.

#3: An 18-inch diameter gas pipeline burst into flames after an explosion here, affecting smooth flow of gas supply to some parts of Sindh, Geo News reported Saturday morning. Police said that the explosion occurred late at night at Malgawar rupturing an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline that burst into sky-high high flames and gas supply to parts of Sindh has been affected.

#4: Gun battle between Taliban militants and Afghan forces claimed 15 lives including 14 insurgents and one Afghan soldier in Khost province on Friday, a local official said Saturday.

#5: As a result of a mine explosion a civilian was martyred and fourteen others wounded in Baghlan province yesterday. Col. Abdul Rashid director of police department in the province said BNA, the incident occurred in a crowded market of Pul-e-Khomri city while, explosive material placed in a bicycle.

#6: Six people were wounded in explosion of a roadside mine in Farah province. Jawad Afghan spokesman of Farah governor said BNA, the incident occurred in Yazda village of Farah province while a police vehicle carrying Khalil Ahmad deputy of cultural center of security forces hit a roadside mine planted under a bridge which caused wounding of two bodyguards of deputy of agricultural center of police forces and four civilians.

#7: A heavy explosion rocked northern Mazar-e-Sharif city of Afghanistan on Saturday. The incident reportedly took place in Chawk-e-Salim Shahid area of Mazar-e-Sharif city around 1:30 pm local time.

#8: At least 33 Taliban militants were killed following military operations conducted by Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers. The statement further added that the militants were killed in various provinces of the country during the past 48 hours.

War News for Friday, July 18, 2014

Militants Slip Away from Pakistani Armed Forces


Reported security incidents
#1: Militants killed eight members of a government paramilitary force in a midnight attack on a security checkpoint in Pakistan's restive northwest, security officials said Friday. The militants bombarded the checkpoint with rocket-propelled grenades, two senior military officials said, before overrunning and ransacking it. Local residents said the gunfire began around midnight and continued for at least two hours.

#2: Two people, including a Taliban militant, were killed Friday and 14 others injured after an apparently accidental explosion in eastern Afghanistan, an official said. "An enemy of the people was carrying a bomb on his motorbike, but it exploded on the way in Mehtarlam city," said Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the governor of Laghman province.

#3: Five staff members of an intelligence agency were killed while six others were injured  in an accident near Sahiwal, a private channel reported. The accident took place late on Thursday when a van carrying  intelligence officers collided head-on with a truck while returning from the funeral of an intelligence officer, who was killed during Thursday operation on Raiwand Road against alleged terrorists.

#4: The bomb attack that left the policeman dead and three others wounded took place in the Yakatoot area of Peshawar city. The bomb exploded near a police van in Yakatoot neighbourhood at around 4:00am (2300 GMT Thursday), killing a policeman and injuring three others," a senior police official, told AFP.

#5: Four people were killed in a firing incident in the Mehmonabad are of the city (Quetta) on Friday. Police said the dead include three family members (grandfather, father and son) who were returning home after offering their Friday prayers. According to police, two men on a motorcycle fled after opening fire.

#6: A 10-year-old girl was injured in the latest wave of cross-border shelling from the other side of Durand line in Kunar province. According to local government official, at least ten rockets were fired in Kunar province on Thursday night.

War News for Thursday, July 17, 2014

Reported security incidents

#1: Four Afghan militants have been killed after launching a rocket-propelled grenade attack on Kabul International Airport. "Four terrorists were killed by police special forces. The area is being cleared now, there are no casualties to our forces," said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

 

#2: Officials say police fought for more than 10 hours with militants planning to attack the prime minister's home in eastern Pakistan. Government official Shuja Khanzada said Thursday a police officer and a militant were killed in an overnight operation against insurgents planning the attack.

 

#3: At least seven people were killed and four others injured today in a roadside bomb blast in this restive northwestern Pakistani city. The blast occurred in Dorri Banda area of Hangu district of Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

 

#4: Taliban militants attacked the security convoy of president Hamid Karzai in eastern Paktia province of Afghanistan. Preliminary reports suggest at least four security guards of president Karzai were injured following the attack.

War News for Wednesday, July 16, 2014

News reports that a Czech soldier has died in Prague's military hospital on Monday, July 13th. The soldier was wounded in a suicide bombing which killed for other Czech soldiers on Tuesday, July 8th.

French Soldier Killed in Mali Suicide Attack

Militants Repel Iraqi Government Assault On Tikrit


Reported security incidents
#1: A US drone strike on Wednesday killed at least 13 people in a suspected militant compound in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt. "A US drone fired two missiles targeting a militant compound in Zoi Saidgai area, killing at least 13 insurgents," a senior security official in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, told AFP.

#2: Elsewhere in North Waziristan, air strikes in the Shawal Valley killed 35 militants, according to a statement from the military.

#3: At least three Afghan national army soldiers were martyred following separate improvised explosive device (IED) attacks.

#4: In the meantime defense ministey said at lease 37 militants were killed during opeations by Afghan soldiers in Khost, Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

#5: Unknown gunmen kidnapped the aid workers of a US-based non-governmental organization in western Herat province of Afghanistan. According to local government officials, the four aid workers were kidnapped by gunmen in Gozara district late Tuesday.

#6: At least 61 rockets have been fired in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan in the latest wave of cross-border shelling.

#7: A heavy explosion was heard in capital Kabul early Wednesday morning after a rocket landed in side the Kabul airport. Initial reports suggested that two rockets landed near Kabul airport without causing any casualties.

War News for Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Full audit of Afghanistan presidential votes delayed


Reported security incidents
#1: At least 89 people have been killed in a car bomb explosion at a busy market in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province, the defence ministry says. Officials say the attacker drove a 4x4 vehicle into the market in Orgun district and detonated the explosives. Some 42 injured people have been taken to hospital, he added.

A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near a police checkpoint in the eastern province of Paktika.

#2: Separately, two employees of the presidential office were killed when a roadside bomb was exploded by remote control as their vehicle passed it in the capital city of Kabul. President Hamid Karzai's office said five were wounded.

#3: Meanwhile, an alleged militant was killed in an encounter with police following an attack on check post in Bhana Mari area on Kohat Road. Officials said the two accused were riding a motorbike opened fire on the check post. Police returned fire, killing an attacker while his accomplice managed to flee.

#4: At least 17 Taliban militants were killed following counter-terrorism operations in various provinces of Afghanistan in the past 24 hours.

#5: At least three Afghan national army soldiers were martyred following separate improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. The ministry of defense of Afghanistan (MoD) said Tuesday that the soldiers were martyred in the past 24 hours.

War News for Monday, July 14, 2014

Afghans to Alter the Government


Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani jets and artillery pounded militant hideouts in a lawless tribal district, killing 18 foreign and local insurgents in a massive ongoing offensive against the Taliban, officials said Sunday. Air strikes were carried out in Mosaki area, 25 kilometres (15 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan on Sunday while artillery shelled militant hideouts in Kharkamar area, 30 kilometres west of Miranshah on Saturday night.

#2: About 77 Taliban militants were killed in army operations since early Saturday, said the Afghan Defense Ministry on Sunday. "Afghan National Army (ANA) conducted several security operations in Laghman, Ghazni and Helmand provinces over the past 24 hours, killing 77 armed militants and injuring several other militants," the ministry said in a statement.

#3: ANA forces carrying out clearing operation to eliminate armed insurgents  in Sangin district of Helmand province, killed 7 armed rebels, wounded a number of them and captured a numerous of heavy and light weapons, defense ministry spokesman press office reported BNA.

#4: Defense Ministry Press Office said to BNA that the ANA forces launched operation in  Chahardara district of Kunduz province in which 11 armed rebels killed and 9 others were arrested with 4 Kalashnikovs, some military equipment and a motorcycle.

#5: As a result of an explosion a civilian was killed and seven others wounded in Khanjan district, Baghlan province.

#6: A policeman injured following explosion of a magnetic mine in Kunduz province this morning.

#7: A loud explosion were heard in capital Kabul early Monday morning. According to reports, the explosion has taken place in Khair Khana area of of Kabul city. Local residents and eyewitnesses in the are saying that two rockets have landed in Lab-e-Jar area, without causing any casualties.

News of the Day for Sunday, July 13,2014

U.S Secretary of State John Kerry brokers a deal between the presidential candidates bringing about an apparently amicable end to the electoral crisis. Abdullah and Ghani agree on a 100% audit of the electoral tally. Says AFP, "Just days earlier the two men were barely speaking, as Abdullah vehemently accused Ghani of stealing victory by stuffing the ballots. But standing next to each other with Kerry late on Saturday before the world's cameras, they clasped hands, smiling, and raised them in the air. With that single dramatic show of unity, Kerry may well have helped guide Afghanistan's young democracy away from a return to the bloody ethnic civil war of the 1990s." We'll see.

Assault on a security post in Laghman province results in deaths of 6 police and 1 soldier, with 15 attackers claimed dead. Elsewhere, 2 attacks in Herat result in deaths of 4 police and 4 insurgents.

Three NATO troops are injured in a suicide attack on a convoy in Nangarhar.

Khaama reports 3 ANA soldiers killed by IEDs,  but the Defense Ministry offers no specific details. They do however say that an average of 20 police and soldiers have died each day in the past week, which is a great improvement in honesty compared to the daily barrage of BS from the Interior Ministry in which no government or civilian personnel are ever killed. However, it also means that the vast majority of these incidents go unreported, which means you don't read about them here. As I have said before, the true level of violence in Afghanistan is much greater than the impression you would get from reported incidents and government propaganda.

A radio reporter is murdered in Balkh province. The perpetrators are unknown.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, Parliament again fails to form a government. While the politicians squabble, the self-styled Islamic State recaptures Dhuluiya, which the government had retaken in June. Fighting continues, but the insurgents control City Hall and police headquarters.  The town is 70 km north of Baghdad. Gunmen enter a Baghdad brothel and kill 29 women. This appears to be a symptom of the increasing role of Shiite militias in the city, displacing the feckless government security forces and police. IS is looting and selling antiquities on a massive scale. And, to catch up on the week, Kurdistan has effectively seceded. Kurdish cabinet members have stopped participating int the interim government, government forces have murdered 255 Sunni prisoners, and government forces hold off an assault on Haditha. Fighting continues in Ramadi, Muqdadiya, and Jalawla where the Peshmerga are trying to expel militants.

War News for Saturday, July 12, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: Militants killed a Pakistan army captain and two soldiers in an attack early Saturday in a tribal region near its border with Afghanistan, an official said. A group of some 60 militants who crossed over from Afghanistan attacked an army post in the Ghakhi area of the Bajur tribal region, said Shah Nasim, a senior government administrator in Bajur.

#2: The deadliest attack Saturday, July 12, happened in southern Kandahar province. Panjwayi district police chief Sultan Mohammad said a bomb struck a civilian car there, killing eight people. He blamed the Taliban for the bombing.

#3: In eastern Nangarhar province, another bomb struck a vehicle. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast in the city of Jalalabad killed a civilian and a police officer.

#4: Earlier today, in Dera Bugti District- Balochistan, 16-inch gas pipeline was blown up, a private news channel reported. According to details, one of the officials, who denied to be named, claimed that militants had planted explosive material near Peer Koh Gas Pipeline.

#5: a mine blast in Zamkani district, Paktia province, nine civilians wounded today. Colonel Sayed Hasan Nangarhari police chief of Samkani district told BNA, the incident occurred while a mine was planted in a shop in relevant areas of Samkani district which caused wounding of nine civilians.

#6: As a result of Taliban attack on police security post in Nangarhar province, a policeman was martyred and four others wounded last night. A security source who wanted to be anonymous said BNA, Taliban attacked on a local police post in Shedal bazaar, Speenghar district of the province, in which a police was killed and four others wounded.

#7: Two armed Taliban Killed and three wounded in explosion of a mine in Paktia province last evening. Interior ministry press office reported BNA, five armed Taliban while planting mine in Amerkhail district of Paktia province, the mine exploded and killed two insurgents, wounded three others.

#8: At least 64 Taliban militants were killed following military operations by Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers. The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) said Saturday that the militants were killed during the past 48 hours.

#9: At least eleven Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. The ministry of defense of Afghanistan (MoD) said the soldiers were martyred in separate IED attacks during the past 48 hours.

#10: At least five militants were killed or injured following an explosion in eastern Paktia province of Afghanistan.

War News for Friday, July 11, 2014

TAPI pipeline project in its final stage

Fears of civil war in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Authorities in Afghanistan say a roadside bombing has killed seven police officers in a western province. Sayed Anwar Rahmati, the governor of Ghor province, said Friday that the blast struck the officers as they traveled in Charsada district. Rahmati said Thursday's blast was followed by a four hour gunbattle between Taliban fighters and police officers that killed eight suspected militants.

#2: The ANA forces in the last 24 hours killed 33 armed Taliban in some provinces of the country.

#3: A young girls was wounded by rocket attack of armed Taliban. The incident occurred late yesterday night while armed Taliban fired a rocket in suburb of Sheberghan center of Jouzjan province.

#4: A civilian was killed and two others wounded in explosion of a bomb in Balkh province this morning. The blast occurred at 10:30 am this morning in Balkh district. Temoorshah Fayes governor of Balkh district said BNA, a civilian was killed and two others wounded in the blast.

War News for Thursday, July 10, 2014

5 reasons the new Afghan civilian casualty report is awful

Ground Battles in Afghanistan Contribute to Surge in Civilian Casualties, U.N. Says

District falls to Taliban control in Ghor province


Reported security incidents
#1: A new wave of violence has swept through Kandahar, the second-largest city in Afghanistan, as a government building came under attack yesterday. Quoting Dawa Khan Menapal, a spokesman for Kandahar government, Reuters reported that 11 assailants were involved in the raid. Two attackers detonated explosives they had attached to themselves, while the rest continued a gunfight with security forces. All insurgents were killed by security forces, but the attack also left two policemen and four civilians dead.

#2: The Taliban shot and killed six people working for a demining company in western Afghanistan, police said on Thursday, a day after the United Nations said the number of civilian casualties in the country jumped by a quarter in the first half of 2014. "The Taliban killed six de-miners from the Halo Trust landmine clearance organisation while they were on an operation in Kohsan district of Herat. They abducted three people," said Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

#3: The Pakistani military has seized control of 80 percent of Miranshah, the capital of the remote tribal region of North Waziristan, where the military launched an operation against Islamist militants last month, a general said on Wednesday.

#4: The U.S. Thursday carried out a drone strike killing at least four suspected militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, where Pakistani troops are conducting a military offensive against militant groups, Pakistani officials said.

#5: Unidentified militants killed five paramilitary soldiers today in an attack on a Frontier Corps (FC) post in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province. Five soldiers were killed in the attack which happened at Duki area of Loralai district, Radio Pakistan reported.

#6: At least two policemen were killed on Wednesday night after suspected terrorists attacked a patrol vehicle in Peshawar, according to a senior police officer. “A police van was on routine patrol when it was attacked in the Wahidabad area of Chamkani,” said Ejaz Khan. He said three men, believed to be affiliated with terror outfits, targeted the police and killed two officers on the spot. “One attacker was killed after police retaliated,” he added.

#7: Jets bombed insurgent hideouts in the North Waziristan Agency and killed at least 13 militants on Tuesday, the military said. The strikes were carried out at Degan village, a stronghold of Taliban militants in the North Waziristan tribal district.

#8: At least five persons were injured today in a bomb attack in northwest Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The bomb was planted on a motorbike on the Railway Road near a bank in Bannu city, police said. Five people were injured in the attack.

#9: About 33 militants have been killed and 20 others wounded in Afghan army's operations carried out in the country since early Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

#10: Four armed insurgents were killed in an operation conducted by ANA forces in Pakita province last night.

#11: An explosion took place in capital Kabul early Thursday morning leaving at least one person dead. The incident has took place in Karte Parwan area of Kabul city after a magnetic bomb planted in a police vehicle went off. A security official confirmed that a policeman was killed and another one was injured following the blast.

War News for Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Afghan Candidate Stops Short of Forming Government

UN documents 4,853 civilian casualties in Afghanistan in past 6 months


Reported security incidents
#1: A group of militants launched massive offensives against police headquarters and provincial governor office in Kandahar city the capital of Kandahar province, 450 km south of Kabul on Wednesday. "A group of militants first conducted a suicide car bomb next to the Kandahar police headquarters and after minutes some militants begun opening fire on the governor office," spokesman for provincial government Dawa Khan Minapal told Xinhua. A gun battle between the security forces and the attackers is going on, Minapal said, adding the militants have occupied some buildings near the provincial governor office, and were opening fire from them.

#2: Pakistani jets bombed insurgent hide-outs in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan and killed at least 13 militants on Tuesday the military said. The strikes were carried out at Degan village a stronghold of Taleban militants in the North Waziristan tribal district.

#3: At least two people were killed and two sustained injuries as unknown gunmen opened fire targeting passengers in a Rickshaw in the Cantt area of Bannu on Wednesday, Dunya News reported.

#4: Clash among policemen left at least three personnel dead and two other injured in southern province of Kandahar, an official said Monday.

#5: At least 8 armed Taliban killed in a clash with local police forces in Imam Sahib District of Kunduz province.

#6: At least two Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following separate improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in the last 24 hours.

#6: At least 35 Taliban militants were killed following military operations conducted by Afghan national security forces in various provinces of Afghanistan.

War News for Tuesday, July 08, 2014

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 8th. News reports that a suicide bomber killed four Czech soldiers while patrolling around Bagram in Parwan province. Another soldier was wounded in the blast which also killed or wounded numerous civilians and Afghani police.

Reported security incidents
#1: Jets bombed insurgent hideouts in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan and killed at least 13 militants on Tuesday, the military said. “Seven terrorist hideouts were destroyed and 13 terrorists were killed, including foreigners, by jet aircraft strikes in Degan in North Waziristan Agency today,” a military statement said.

#2: A police head-constable was injured when a low-intensity blast targeted a police van on outskirts of Peshawar on Tuesday morning. According to police, the blast occurred in Sufaid Dheri area in the limit of Pishtakhara police station where a police mobile van came under attack on Dora Road.

#3: A provincial council candidate of Kandahar was killed by police last night. Zeya Dorani police spokesman of Kandahar said BNA, the incident occurred in 4th precinct of that province while a provincial council candidate of Kandahar  named Mohammad Afghan was going to his home targeted by police and killed.

#4: Three armed rebels were killed in a clearing operation conducted by ANA forces in Helmand province last night.

#5: Two mine planters were killed, as a result of their own mine explosion in Helmand province yesterday.

#6: At least three soldiers of the Afghan national army (ANA) were martyred and three others were injured in improvised explosive device (IED) and suicide attacks.

#7: A suicide car bomb rocked Shahr-e-Safa district in the southern Zabul province 340 km south of Kabul on Monday killing three attackers on the spot and wounding another, provincial police chief Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Liwanai said. "Four terrorists driving an explosive-laden vehicle with the objective to target the district headquarters of Shahr-e-Safa but before reaching the target it exploded at 11:30 (local time) killing three attackers and wounding another," Liwanai told Xinhua.

War News for Monday, July 07, 2014

‘Army operation in North Waziristan to end after elimination of terrorism’


Reported security incidents
#1: Five children were killed by a rocket fired by Taliban fighters during a battle with Afghan security forces in a northern region of the country on Monday, authorities said. The Taliban fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a civilian house in Ali Abad district of Kunduz province at 5 a.m., said Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. Four other people in the house were wounded, he added.

#2: An Afghan official says that five police officers including a district police chief have been killed when insurgents attacked their vehicle in the country’s west. Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial police chief of Herat province, said on Monday that Sher Ahmad district police chief and four other policemen were killed in the attack carried out in Herat’s Farsi district. Another officer was wounded, he says.

#3: Authorities on Monday foiled an attempt to blow up Khushhal Khattak Express by successfully defusing a 10kg heavy bomb planted by the track at Fazalpur area of Rajanpur, Dunya News reported.

#4: Unknown gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle late here (Hyderabad) on Sunday night, killing at least three policemen and injuring two others, Pakistan Tribune reported. According to reports, the incident occurred in Latifabad no.8 area of the metropolis where six armed assailants riding six motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on a police mobile van. Resultantly four policemen and a passerby sustained injuries.

#5: In another incident, unknown gunmen killed two policemen in the city of Quetta in Balochistan province.

#6: Conflict between Afghan security forces and Taliban militants is still continuing in Sangin district of the southern Helmand province, spokesman for provincial administration Omar Zawak said Monday.

#7: At least Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following separate improvised explosive device (EID) attacks.

News of the Day for Sunday, July 6, 2014

After 12 days of fighting, Taliban take control of Askin valley in Kapisa. Local residents and police have fled to neighboring Laghman province.

Local officials say 38 Taliban and 2 border police are killed in fighting in Paktia Friday night. [One is forced to wonder about these highly disproportionate casualty totals. The Taliban, who have yet to comment on this incident, always have a radically different accounting. -- C]

National Directorate of Security says Taliban leader Mullah Jamaluddin was killed in an operation in Lashkargah, Helmand.

ANA soldier is killed, 4 civilians and 1 police officer injured by a motorcycle bomb in southern Kandahar.

Flow of refugees from North Waziristan in Khost reverses the long-term pattern of refugees fleeing Afghanistan entering Pakistan. The Pakistani military, waging a scorched earth campaign in North Waziristan, has told civilians to leave and that anyone who remains will be considered Taliban. Note that the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban are separate organizations with differing objectives and ideologies. Afghan officials, while doing their best to succor the refugees with what little they have, are concerned that there could be infiltrators among them.

Negotiations between the candidates over the electoral impasse continue. Ghani continues to decry delay in release of results.

The Daily Mail reports that the Taliban have reclaimed hundreds of square miles formerly held by British soldiers, based on e-mails it has obtained from an intelligence officer:

Huge swathes of Helmand Province, the area of Afghanistan where hundreds of British soldiers were killed in eight years of bloody fighting, are once again in the hands of the Taliban, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The districts of Now Zad, Musa Qala and Sangin have been overrun by insurgents after British troops withdrew to the security of Camp Bastion – the last remaining UK base in the province.

The return of the Taliban to hundreds of square miles of territory which was previously liberated by British soldiers makes a mockery of Prime Minister David Cameron’s declaration of ‘mission accomplished’ in Afghanistan.

War News for Saturday, July 05, 2014

The U.S. Needs to Stop the ISIS Pipeline


Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban insurgents have set fire to about 200 oil tanker lorries supplying fuel for Nato forces in an attack just outside Kabul, police said. Television footage showed black smoke billowing above the site of the attack, with the charred wreckage of dozens of trucks scattered around a vast parking space. It was unclear how the fire was started. Some Afghan media reported that insurgents had fired rockets at the tankers late on Friday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

#2: Jets bombed militant hideouts in North Waziristan on Saturday, killing scores of Uzbek and local insurgents in a massive ongoing offensive against the Taliban, the military said. Airstrikes were carried out at Miranshah and Boya village after shots were fired at troops, according to a statement

#3: A local Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) district leader was killed in the wee hours of Saturday morning when unknown gunmen opened fire on him in Balochistan's Kalat district, DawnNews reported. According to Levies personnel, unknown assailants broke into the house of PML-N leader Abdul Jabbar Imrani at the time of Sehri and shot him dead.

#4: Preacher of Farah mosque has been martyred by unknown gunmen last night. Jawad Afghan spokesman of Farah governor told BNA, Mawlavi Momen preacher of a mosque in Farah province targeted by two unknown gunmen who riding motorcycle and seriously injured. According to the source, Mawlavi Momen as a result of heavy injuries and bleeding lost his life on way to hospital.

#5: Six Taliban militants were killed and 10 others sustained injuries as clash erupted in Jarm district of Badakhshan province 315 km northeast of Kabul on Friday night, spokesman of provincial government Ahmad Naved Frutan said Saturday. "A group of armed Taliban rebels attacked police checkpoints outside Jarm city on Friday night and police returned fire killing six militants on the spot and injuring 10 others," Frutan told Xinhua. There were no casualties on the security personnel, he contended.

War News for Friday, July 04, 2014

Polio team beaten up in Khairpur

Journalist’s home bombed in Pakistan

Journalist seriously injured in knife attack in Herat province


Reported security incidents
#1: update Taliban insurgents fired rockets into Kabul airport on Thursday, destroying the Afghan president's parked helicopter and damaging three other choppers, officials said, in an attack that underlined security fears in the capital.

#2: At least seven people were killed in a US airstrike in eastern Afghanistan. The attack, which took place in Logar Province, also injured three people.

#3: Two people were killed while three others were injured in reportedly a suicide bombing on Friday in Karachi’s area of Saddar, a private news channel reported. According to details, a suicide bomber struck a mosque in Saddar’s Preedy street and killed two people. Three others were injured.

#4: At least two internally displaced persons (IDPs) were killed Friday when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a refugee registration camp in a government school in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The incident occurred in Bannu district and the victims were from North Waziristan, Dawn online reported.

#5: Afghan security forces killed 90 militants during clashes in restive southern Helmand province, authorities said Friday. "On Thursday, Afghan police and army launched an operation after an intelligence tip off showed dozens of Taliban insurgents took position in Babajee locality of provincial capital Lashkar Gah, killing 20 Taliban insurgents and capturing seven others along with weapons and motorcycles," the provincial police chief, Major General Abdul Qaum Baqizoi, told Xinhua.

#6: A suicide bomber targeted a vehicle convoy of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Kandahar province. According to local government officials, the incident took place early Friday in Zherai district.  said only a vehicle of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was damaged following the attack.

#7: At least two civilians were killed and nine others were injured following an explosion in northern Mazar-e-Sharif city of Afghanistan. Security officials in northern Balkh province said the incident took place around 7:30 pm local time close to Mazar-e-Sharif shrine. The officials further added that two civilians were killed and nien others were injured following the blast.