Today in Afghanistan

War News for Wednesday, February 01, 2012

2012-02-01T03:50:00.000-08:00

The Georgian Paradox

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, February 1

Another Afghan soldier kills NATO service member - Afghan National Army commander Sayed Malluk confirmed the shooting, which he said happened during a night patrol in Helmand province's Marjah district. But he said the Afghan soldier, who has been in the army for more than two years, told investigators the shooting was an accident.

Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen attacked a paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan, killing 11 soldiers and increasing tension in an area where a separatist insurgency has raged for decades, the military said Wednesday. Twelve soldiers were also wounded in the attack Tuesday night in the Marwarh area of Baluchistan province, said the paramilitary Frontier Corps. The troops returned fire, but officials did not indicate whether the attackers suffered any casualties. A local government official, Fateh Bangalzai, said soldiers discovered the bodies of seven unarmed men near the checkpoint Wednesday morning. Authorities were investigating whether the men were part of the attacking group or civilians caught in the crossfire, said Bangalzai.

#2: Pakistani fighter jets bombed the hideouts of two militant commanders along the Afghan border Wednesday, killing up to 31 insurgents, government and security officials said. One of those killed was reported to be a Pakistani Taliban leader in Orakzai region named Moin ud Din, said one security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. It was not possible to independently confirm the information because the border region is effectively off-limits to reporters. Militants have in the past disputed army accounts of casualties, and human rights groups say civilians often die in military actions. There were air strikes in the bordering regions of Kurram and Orakzai, said government officials Wajid Khan and Ameer Gul. The attacks followed clashes between soldiers and militants over a strategic mountaintop in Kurram that killed over 60 people in the last week.

#3: Joint Afghan and coalition security forces killed three armed insurgents during operations in several provinces in the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#4: At least 13 people were killed when a U.S. drone launched three missile strikes in Orakzai region of Pakistan's northwest tribal belt on Wednesday, local media reported. According to the report by local TV channel Geo, the attack was launched in wee hours in the morning when a U.S. drone fired three missiles at a militants'hideout in Darand Shekhan area of upper Orakzai agency, a militancy-hit tribal area where Pakistan army has been battling local and foreign Taliban militants for the past four months. The report said that six foreigners were also among the killed militants and the dead bodies have been shifted to other areas of Orakzai after the drone attack

War News for Tuesday, January 31, 2011

2012-01-31T02:47:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, January 31st.

Obama confirms U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan

On the Ground in Afghanistan, a Taliban Whose Momentum Seems Anything but Broken

Alternate routes for Nato supplies may come under attack: experts

Reconstructing the bombing of a CIA base

Fear drives new front in Afghan peace talks: analysts

US unilateralism in Afghanistan

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 31, Jan. 30th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Dozens of heavily armed Taliban militants attacked a Pakistani military post on Tuesday, sparking clashes that killed seven soldiers and wounded another 10, the military said. At the time, security forces claimed to have taken control of Jogi, which is strategically located near Orakzai district, birthplace of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud. A senior military official told AFP that "more than 300 Taliban attacked" the checkpost at around midnight (1900 GMT Monday) in central Kurram, which is on the Taliban route into North Waziristan and onto the Afghan border. Pakistani security forces retaliated and killed around 25 militants, but seven soldiers were also killed and 10 others wounded, the official said. Independent confirmation of death tolls is largely impossible in the tribal belt, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold barred to journalists and aid workers. "Heavy fighting continued until this morning," the military official said. Local administration official Sher Bahadur confirmed the military deaths but put the number of wounded paramilitaries at 12.

#2: Four armed insurgents were killed during joint Afghan and coalition security operations in several provinces in the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#3: Three people were killed and eight others wounded in a suspected suicide bombing at a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police officials said. The house belonged to the leader of a pro-government tribal militia fighting against militants in the nearby Khyber tribal region.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, at least 25 armed militants were killed and injured following a military operation in eastern Kapisa province. A spokesman for provincial police commandment in eastern Kapisa province Asadullah Hamidi said, the operation was conducted in Elasai district by Afghan security forces. Mr. Hamidi further added, at least 19 militants were killed and 6 others were injured during the military operations. He also said, several regions in Elasai district was cleared from the militants and the local residents can continue to their normal lives. In the meantime local officials said, at least eight civilians were also killed and injured during the military operations. The officials said, Afghan civilians were killed during clashes between Afghan security forces and armed militants. According to local officials, Afghan security forces did not suffer any casualties during the operations.

War News for Monday, January 30, 2011

2012-01-30T03:52:00.000-08:00

U.S. Drones Patrolling Its Skies Provoke Outrage in Iraq

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 30, Jan. 29th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani army forces have killed at least eight militants during an air strike in the northwestern Kurram tribal region, Press TV reports. Gunship helicopters belonging to Pakistan's army bombarded the militant's hideouts in the Murghan and Kandlor area of central Kurram tribal region near the Afghanistan border on Sunday, killing the eight militants and wounding ten others.

#2: The Taliban have kidnapped a member of Afghanistan's peace council during a bid to promote talks in the volatile east, underscoring the difficulty negotiators face in winning support for nascent negotiations from the Taliban frontline. Maulavi Shafihullah Shafih, a low-level member of the High Peace Council set up by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to liaise with the Taliban, disappeared on Friday in the Asmar district of the eastern province of Kunar, authorities said on Sunday. The attack wounded four people, including Masoom Stanekzai, head of the council's secretariat.

#3: An Afghan-led security force supported by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), killed a leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Taloqan district, Takhar province, on Sunday, the coalition said in a statement.

#4: Four armed insurgents were killed and one was wounded during security operations in several provinces, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

MoD: Lance Corporal Gajbahadur Gurung

News of the Day for Sunday, January 29, 2012

2012-01-29T05:49:00.000-08:00

A member of the Afghan Peace Council, Shafiullah Shafi, is reported kidnapped in Kunar. He had gone to that province to try to recruit insurgents to the peace process. No one has so far claimed responsibility for seizing him.

Police foil a plot in Kandahar province, seizing a motorbike rigged with explosives.

And, an Afghan soldier is arrested in Herat with an explosive motorbike.

Afghan President Karzai meets with British BP David Cameron in London. Cameron warns against precipitous withdrawal of foreign forces. On Saturday, the two signed a strategic pact to govern relations after 2014.

Meanwhile, British Chief of Staff David Richards, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan from 2006-2008, has been talking out of school, telling a journalist that the military effort in Afghanistan is "amateurish, and "verging on the complacent," while the British have failed to learn the lessons of the Iraq war or provide adequate resources. (I don't know how it works in Britain but were he a U.S. general, he'd be home tomorrow tending his tulips. -- C)

Pakistan FM Hina Rabbani Khar will visit Kabul February 1 to try to make nice, in the wake of the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani and accusations that Pakistan is harboring Afghan Taliban. She will be the first woman to lead a Pakistani delegation to Afghanistan.

Iraq Update

Xinhua reports several incidents: a civilian is killed by a sticky bomb in Maqdadiyah; in Baquba, a sticky bomb attack on a police officer injures him and 2 bystanders; while in Bani Sa'ad an attack on a Sahwa checkpoint injures 2. Finally, an explosion in southeast Baghdad injures 8 people. Apparently one person did in fact die in the Baghdad blast, which targeted a police patrol.

In Samarra, attackers invade the home of an official of the Iraqi Reconciliation Institution, seriously injuring him and killing a guest.

Ancient Mandaean sect is disappearing from Iraq. In addition to facing religious persecution, their traditional livelihood of gold- and silversmithing has become impossible in an environment of uncontrolled crime.

St. Louis throws a parade for Iraq vets.

U.S. VP Joe Biden has been calling Iraqi leaders to try to facilitate factional reconciliation. However, Iyad Allawi tells Asharq alawsat (here via Aswat al-Iraq, the original interview does not appear to be available in English) that he fears for his personal safety, and:

"The situations are heading towards very difficult trends for several reasons, in their forefront of which is the nature of the political process that was built on erroneous basis, including marginalization and political sectarianism, thing that led for non-building of State institutions, able to present proper services for citizens, especially in the security field and non-implementation of the conditions, cited in the national partnership, agreed upon, thing that also led for difficult tensions facing the country nowadays, such tensions that were stepped up for serious practices, including the case of Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimy and Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq," Allawi said in the interview.

"There are no laws in the country, where the law is politicized and the laws are under politicization, along with measures that are taken outside the limits of the law and against the Constitution; that is why there is no concept for the sovereignty on the law, complete disrespect for the sovereignty of the Constitution," Allawi added.

War News for Saturday, January 28, 2011

2012-01-28T05:26:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms fire/gunshot wounds in the Khar Nikah region of Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on on Friday, January 27th. Here's the ISAF release.

French pull out early - France is to speed up its withdrawal from Afghanistan, handing over all combat missions to Afghan forces in 2013, a year earlier than planned.

France, Breaking With NATO, Will Speed Afghan Exit

US special operations expanding as wars recede

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 28, Jan. 27th.

US helicopter makes emergency landing central Baghdad

Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East

Reported security incidents
#1: Joint Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations killed five armed insurgents during the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#2: In addition, two insurgents were killed by their own explosives while attempting to plant a roadside mine in Ghazni province on Friday, the ministry said.

#3: A roadside bomb killed two Pakistani soldiers when it exploded in the Jogi area of the northwestern Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, a local security official said.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, a US drone on Friday crashed in eastern Ghazni province. Provincial governor spokesman Modasir Afghan said, the drone crashed at Janjat village in Deh-Yak district, due to technical problems.

War News for Sunday, Friday 27, 2011

2012-01-27T03:38:00.000-08:00

Suicide Car Bombing Kills 28 in Baghdad

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 26

US Army's massacre in west Iraq's Haditha township must not pass without punishment, MP

German parliament resolves drawdown of Afghan mission

Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani gunship helicopters on Friday attacked two militant camps in the northwestern Kurram tribal region near the Afghanistan border killing seven militants, security officials said. The death toll could not be independently verified and militants often dispute official accounts.

#2: Meanwhile, in Dera Bugti a paramilitary soldier was killed when a landmine exploded during mine-clearing operations, security officials said. After the explosion, militants opened fire and killed another soldier, officials added. Baloch separatists and Taliban militants have been active in the province and have been blamed for such violence in the past.

#3: Militants fired three rocket-propelled grenades at Pakistan's top military academy in the northern town of Abbottabad, damaging a section of the boundary wall but causing no injuries, police officials said.

#4: Militants attacked a paramilitary checkpost in the Dera Bugti area of the southwestern Baluchistan province, killing five soldiers, security officials said.

#5: Militants attacked a paramilitary checkpost in the Barandem area of the northwestern Bannu district, killing a soldier, intelligence officials said.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, at least 3 insurgents planting roadside bombs were killed following an air raid by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in eastern Khost province. The officials further added, the incident took place on Thursday night at Haram Khel village in central Lakan in eastern Khost province. According to reports, one of the insurgents was detained following the operation, along with explosives and other equipments at the scene of the incident.

DoD: 1st Lt. David A. Johnson

War News for Thursday, January 26, 2011

2012-01-26T03:13:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting the death of an ISAF Marine who died from a a non-combat related illness somewhere in the U.S. on Sunday, January 22nd.

Thousands of Nato trucks in Pakistan backlog

IED attacks in Afghanistan set record

Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide car bomber targeting a NATO-sponsored reconstruction team killed four Afghan civilians, including a child, and wounded 31 on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, officials said. Three civilian international members of the aid team — two men and one woman — were among the wounded, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He said their injuries were not life threatening and did not know their nationalities. The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle Thursday morning as a convoy of a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team passed by in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Ahmadi said. The blast ripped through the convoy of armored vehicles, knocking at least one over and charring others. The explosion also shredded nearby storefronts and damaged at least 17 civilian cars nearby, a provincial statement said.

#2: Pakistani officials say gunmen have attacked a military checkpoint in southwestern Baluchistan Province, killing six soldiers. The officials said about a dozen gunmen attacked the post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the district of Dera Bugti, about 400 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital, Quetta, before dawn on January 26. After killing the soldiers, the gunmen are reported to have taken the soldiers' weapons and escaped.

#3: Twenty-two Pakistani forces were injured during an assault by a group of militants in the Jogi area of the northwestern Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, security officials said. The officials said security forces fought back and killed 20 militants in the incident. The death toll could not be independently verified and militants often dispute official accounts.

#4: Militants attacked a paramilitary checkpost in the Barandem area of the northwestern Bannu district, killing a soldier, intelligence officials said.

#5: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, at least four militants were killed following armed clashes with the Afghan National Police forces in southern Helmand province. The officials further added, at least two Afghan police service members were also killed during clashes with the armed militants, which lasted more than 8 hours. District Security Chief for Nad-e-Ali Omer Jan confirming the report said, the clashes started on Wednesday evening. Mr. Omer Jan further added, at least eight other militants were also injured during the clashes.

DoD: Capt. Joshua C. Pairsh

MoD: Signaller Ian Sartorius-Jones

War News for Wednesday, January 25, 2011

2012-01-25T05:07:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from unreported causes at a patrol base in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, January 24th. News reports this as a possible suicide. Here’s the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 25th.

France Rules Out Early Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan

North Fayette man killed in Afghanistan helicopter accident - James Scott Ozier, 30, was one of three employees of Palm Bay, Fla.-based AAR Airlift Group who died on Jan. 16 while conducting operations for the U.S. Department of Defense in Helmand Province.

British soldier in 'suicide' in Afghanistan

US drone attacks unlawful and unacceptable: Salman Bashir

East Afghan frontline emerges as major hurdle

Reported security incidents
#1:
SIX Pakistani soldiers and 17 Taliban militants have been killed in an overnight clash in a northwestern tribal district near the Afghan border. Some 50 Taliban fighters attacked Pakistani troops during a search operation in Jogi village of central Kurram tribal district late yesterday, officials said. "Six soldiers were killed and four injured in the clash. Troops repelled the attack and killed 17 militants," Sher Bahadar Khan, a local government official in Kurram told AFP. The militants were Pakistani Taliban, he said. A senior official of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps confirmed the attack, and the casualties, and added that troops had taken control of the area. Independent confirmation of the death toll was not immediately possible as the lawless tribal region is barred for journalists .

#2: An Estonian soldier was seriously wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday. Yesterday morning, insurgents attacked an Estonian infantry squad that was patrolling near Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province. One soldier was struck by an improvised explosive device.

#3: At least five insurgents have been killed as Afghan forces and NATO-led Coalition troops conducted operations in eastern Afghanistan region, the NATO-led forces said on Tuesday. “Afghan and Coalition Forces killed five insurgents and detained eight suspected individuals in eastern Afghanistan during operations throughout the past 24 hours, Jan. 23,” the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a press release. “A coalition airstrike killed five insurgents after troops positively identified them with weapons in Tagab District, Kapisa Province,” it said. Afghan National Police (ANP) detained four individuals in Mehtarlam District, Laghman Province after a small-arms fire engagement.

#4: Several insurgents were killed during a combined Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operation in search of a Taliban leader in Kot district, Faryab province on Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement.

#5: Two civilians were killed and seven others were injured Wednesday when two rockets fired by suspected Taliban insurgents hit a house in the country's Kapisa province.

DoD: Cpl. Christopher G. Singer

War News for Tuesday, January 24, 2011

2012-01-24T02:57:00.000-08:00

Christopher D. Bordoni, 21, was wounded in an attack involving a suicide bomber while serving in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, according to a statement from his family. He was sent to a hospital in Germany, and was recently transferred to the San Antonio Military Medical Center to receive treatment, according to the statement. According to his family, Bordoni was on patrol in the Kajaki district when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle entered the area. It was reported that several civilians, military personnel and police were injured and killed, according to the family's statement.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 24

Reported security incidents
#1: At least five insurgents have been killed as Afghan forces and NATO-led Coalition troops conducted operations in eastern Afghanistan region, the NATO-led forces said on Tuesday. "Afghan and Coalition Forces killed five insurgents and detained eight suspected individuals in eastern Afghanistan during operations throughout the past 24 hours, Jan. 23," the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a press release. "A coalition airstrike killed five insurgents after troops positively identified them with weapons in Tagab District, Kapisa Province," it said.

#2: A fresh drone attack carried out by the American CIA in North Waziristan Agency Monday morning killed 6 people. Reports reaching here said a few predator planes, in a third missiles hit after Mohmand tragedy, targeted a vehicle in Degaan area some 30 kilometers west of Miran Shah the headquarters of North Waziristan agency Monday early morning destroying the vehicle completely. “The American planes hovering in the skies for quite some time fired many missiles at a vehicle heading towards Datta Khel area from Tehsil Degaan and the vehicle was seen in high flames where as a nearby house was also damaged”. Sources told Observer adding as many as six people on board the vehicle were found dead. Some official sources said those killed were the fugitives and hailed from Turkmenistan. “They did not appear to be the local militants”. The people of the area said and added that three drones were hovering in the skies when the attack took place

War News for Monday, January 23, 2011

2012-01-23T03:56:00.000-08:00

Afghans hit by food price hikes as Pakistan shutdown bites

Afghan soldier killed French troops over U.S. abuse video

Reported security incidents
#1: At least five Afghan policemen have been injured in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, officials say. The blast took place on Monday morning when a police vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Mando Zayi district near the Khost city.

#2: A suspected U.S. drone fired missiles at a house and a vehicle in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, killing four alleged militants in an attack that could signal the program is picking up steam after strained relations halted strikes late last year.

#3: Sixteen insurgents have been killed in a series of operations conducted by Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces over the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Sunday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces have launched six joint operations in Kabul, Kapisa, Kandahar, Helmand, Wardak and Khost provinces over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#4: International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan following a press release on Monday announced, Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation in search of a Taliban leader in Sayyidabad district, Wardak province on Saturday. The source further added, the leader, Farid, served as a Taliban judge in Wardak province. He was responsible for multiple ambushes, roadside bomb and direct-fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout the area. He was also known for mistreating the local populace and facilitating a kidnapping operation.

News of the Day for Sunday, January 22, 2012

2012-01-22T05:29:00.000-08:00

French Defense Minister Gérard Longuet meets with president Hamid Karzai on Saturday evening. After saying it was reconsidering its mission to train Afghan forces after an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers and wounded 17 on Friday, France now says the mission will continue.

Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy Marc Grossman meets with Karzai for a second straight day to discuss peace process with insurgents.

Number of Afghans seeking asylum abroad hits an all-time high in 2011. UN statistics find more than 30,000 sought asylum in countries around the world from January through November. "Many Afghans are turning to a thriving and increasingly sophisticated human smuggling industry to get themselves — or in most cases, their sons — out of the country. They pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to cross into Iran or Pakistan to more $25,000 for fake papers and flights to places like London or Stockholm," says AP. The true number who flee is greater than 30,000 because not all seek legal asylum.

Afghan officials claim that a total of 28 militants have renounced violence in Nangarhar and Herat provinces. There is no telling the importance of this, whether these individuals are truly connected with Taliban or other organized insurgent groups, or whether these small numbers are meaningful. We shall see. -- C

Interior Ministry says 10 insurgents killed, 6 captured in various places around the country in the past 24 hours. They also make the (bizarre) boast that they seized 7 AK-47s. (That's like saying the New York City police seized 7 bags of pot.)

Five Afghan border patrol troops killed in an ambush in Herat.

At least one civilian killed, 9 injured in Kapisa province in a failed attack on an Afghan army convoy.

Iraq Update

Two police, 1 Sahwa fighter and 2 insurgents dead in attack on a checkpoint in al-Asoud, near Baquba. Also, a car bombing in Mosul kills one person and injures 3, including 2 police officers.

Human Rights Watch says the human rights situation in Iraq is worsening, Iraq sliding toward authoritarianism. (HRW doesn't seem to have posted the report yet so we have only secondary sources.) From the CNN report:

The group says it uncovered a secret prison where detainees were beaten, hung upside down and given electric shocks to sensitive parts of their bodies. . . .

"It's not a one-off thing that's happening," said Samer Muscati of the group's Middle East and north Africa division. He urged the government to make clear that it did not back torture.

The group was also critical of the crackdown on peaceful protesters by security forces, saying both the federal government and regional authorities in Kurdistan "responded with violence" and "used legal means to curtail protests."

The group also points to violence against women and girls, and journalists.

Quote of the Day from Anatol Lieven, writing in the New York Review of Books. I highly recommend this informed and thoughtful analysis. Shorter version: Cut a deal and get the hell out.

[W]hat America has done is to create a huge Afghan army—but one that is overwhelmingly dependent on US help to pay and arm its troops—alongside a weak and shamefully inept civilian state.

War News for Saturday, January 21, 2011

2012-01-21T04:29:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, January 21th.

Bulgarian Man among 4 French Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

Congresswoman: All 6 killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan were Hawaii-based Marines

Iraq: Body of Briton Is Returned - The body of a British hostage kidnapped in 2007 has been turned over to the British Embassy in Baghdad, officials said Friday. The hostage, Alan McMenemy, was one of five men kidnapped by Shiite militants outside the Finance Ministry. He was part of a security detail guarding a computer expert, Peter Moore, who was released alive in 2010

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 21, Jan 20th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Five Afghan policemen were killed Friday following a clash in the country's western province of Herat, a provincial police source said on Saturday. "An unspecified number of armed insurgents laid an ambush against a unit of Afghan border police force in bordering district of Gulran late Friday triggering a clash that left five border policemen dead," a police official with the fast-reaction unit of border police in the province, Mohammad Saliman told Xinhua via phone. He said a police vehicle was also damaged in the incident in the province 640 km west of capital Kabul.

#2: In another development, four armed insurgents were killed by the Afghan security forces in Barmal district of eastern Paktika province earlier Saturday. "Four armed insurgents including two suicide bombers were shot dead by Afghan security forces at around 10:00 a.m. local time near the Barmal district bazaar," the provincial government said in a statement, adding that the killed insurgents had the intention of attacking a district headquarters and a nearby Afghan and foreign troop's joint coordination center in the bordering district. It said no Afghan police, army or civilian were injured in the incident in the district bordering Pakistan.

#3: A roadside mine killed four civilians and wounded two in Lashkar Gah city, Helmand province, on Saturday, said Kamaluddin Shirzai a senior police detective in the southern province.

#4: Afghan security forces and foreign troops killed four insurgents, wounded two and detained 17 during operations across the country in the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement

#5: A roadside bomb exploded next to a pro-government tribal militia patrol in the Jamrud area of the northwestern Khyber tribal region, killing two militiamen and wounding three, local government officials said.

Fr/MoD: l’adjudant-chef Fabien Willm

Fr/MoD: l’adjudant-chef Denis Estin

Fr/MoD: le sergent-chef Svilen Simeonov

Fr/MoD: le brigadier-chef Geoffrey Baumela

War News for Friday, January 20, 2011

2012-01-20T03:58:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-hostile related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 18th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers who were killed by an Afghan Army soldier in an undisclosed location in Eastern Afghanistan on Friday, January 20th. Various news reports these are French soldiers.

The Navy Times is reporting the deaths of six ISAF soldiers in a helicopter crash in Musa Qala district of Helmand province, Afghanistan on Thursday, January 19th.

France to suspend Afghan military operations after soldiers' deaths

Pakistan: NATO supply routes not reopened

Costs soar for new Afghan War supply routes - The U.S. is paying six times as much to send war supplies to troops in Afghanistan through alternative routes after Pakistan last year closed its border crossings to NATO convoys.

Marine in Haditha killings trial has to decide: Fight or take a deal

Two foreigners kidnapped in Pakistan- German and an Italian were kidnapped from central Pakistani city of Multan Thursday night, a media report said Friday. The police told media that both of them were employees of a non-governmental organisation working for the relief and rehabilitation of flood effected people in the eastern province of Punjab.

Norway's intelligence chief quits after Parliament blunder sees her admit spies are operating in Pakistan

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 20, Jan. 19th.

Baghdad governor threatens to kill any foreigner for security breach

Afghanistan’s Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces

At least 1 dead, 24 injured in blast in southeast Turkey

3 policemen killed by gunmen in southern Yemen

DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation

Reported security incidents
#1: An explosion happened close to the airport in Jalalabad city the capital of eastern Nangarhar province 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, injuring five people, an official said. "An oil tanker exploded some 100 meter away from the gate of Jalalabad airport injuring five people," the official told Xinhua but declined to give his name, saying that authorized officials would brief the media. Meantime, spokesman for provincial administration confirmed the incident, saying that four civilians were injured in the blast. "An oil tanker caught fire close to the airport as a result four civilians sustained injuries,"Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

#2: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, at least 12 armed militants were killed following armed clashes with the Afghan police forces in southern Helmand province. The officials further added, the incident took place after a number of armed militants ambushed a police check post in Nawzad district of southern Helmand province. Provincial police officials said, the clashes started around 4 am local time on Thursday and continued until 6 am. Gen. Dawlatzai further added, at least two Afghan police service members were killed and three others were injured during the clashes.

DoD: Spc. Keith D. Benson

DoD: Cpl. Phillip D. McGeath

War News for Thursday, January 19, 2011

2012-01-19T03:35:00.000-08:00

Russian Says Western Support for Arab Revolts Could Cause a ‘Big War’

'Pakistan to re-open NATO routes to Afghanistan'

Afghans wage anti-US rally in Kunar

Wilmington Marine Wounded in Afghanistan - 27-year-old Corporal Josh Sams stepped on an IED in Afghanistan on Wednesday. both legs were amputated.

Rice Lake man dies in Afghanistan - On Monday night, Darrell and Jan Walker received a phone call from their daughter-in-law confirming every parent's worst nightmare. The helicopter their son Todd and two other men were flying in had been shot down in Afghanistan. All three men were killed. Todd flew helicopters for 27 years all across the world. He had spent the last year in Afghanistan, working with AAR Airlift and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Area man dies in Afghanistan - A Clay County man died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan earlier this week. AAR Airlift Spokesman Chris Mason confirmed to The Brazil Times Wednesday Michael Clawson, 51, Brazil, was one of three crew members killed in the accident, which took place in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, at approximately 10:45 a.m., local time, Jan. 16. According to reports, AAR Airlift was in Afghanistan doing work for the United States Department of Defense. AAR Airlift is a unit of AAR Corp., based in Wood Dale, Ill.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 19, Jan. 18th.

Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up in front of an airport in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least six civilians, police said. The blast occurred at the Kandahar International Airport.

#2: Taliban fighters also attacked a police checkpoint in the Now Zad District, also in Helmand Province. At least two police officers and 12 Taliban fighters, including a local commander identified as Mullah Abdul Baqi, were killed in the ensuing gun battle, said Dawoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Another two officers were wounded, he said.

#3: In Nad Ali District, which authorities had declared largely cleared of insurgents over the past year, a roadside bomb on Wednesday killed the district head of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service, along with a member of the district council, or shura, and two other people, according to Mr. Ahmadi, the governor’s spokesman. The bomb was planted near the home of the security directorate chief, Wali Mohammad, and struck his car as he arrived there at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Mohammad Ismail Hotak, the head of the Operation Coordination Center in the province. Also killed were shura member Gul Agha, a security directorate agent, and a civilian, Afghan officials said.

#4: In the second incident, which took place an hour earlier on Wednesday, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a joint Afghan police and International Security Assistance Force patrol in Kajaki District, northern Helmand Province. The explosion took place in a crowded bazaar area, killing three police officers and ten civilians, and wounding 22 other people, according to Mr. Ahmadi.

#5: A senior Afghan official said on Wednesday that NATO forces killed five civilians, including one woman and two children, during a night raid earlier this week in northeastern Afghanistan. A NATO statement said the alliance was aware of a military operation in Chawkay district of Kunar province on Monday and was checking into the report. Kunar province governor Sayed Fazelullah Wahidi said the raid occurred Monday night. He said coalition helicopters fired into a compound, killing two militants and five civilians, including a woman and two children.

#6: Twenty Afghan civilians, including 13 children and six women, were killed by a roadside bomb in Khoshamand district of southeastern Paktika province, said Brigadier Josef Blotz, senior spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

#7: Twelve Taliban insurgents were killed and six others wounded when a homemade bomb they were making exploded in a compound in Ghormach district of northern Faryab province on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.

#8: One civilian was killed and ten others wounded when a rocket hit their home during a battle between foreign troops and Taliban militants in Koshk district of western Herat province, the provincial governor's spokesman, Sadiq Behrozyan, said. It was not immediately clear who had fired the rocket, he said.

#9: Four Afghan policemen on patrol were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle in southern Zabul province, said Abdul Razziq, a senior provincial police official

#10: At least three police men were injured in a suicide blast that hit a police check post in northwestern Pakistani city of Nowshera on Thursday, reported local Urdu TV Geo. According to the report, the blast took place at about 02:20 p. m. (local time) in Akora Khattak area of Nowshera, a city some 50 km east of the provincial capital Peshawar in northwest Pakistan. The police was checking the vehicles at a check post located at the entering point of the city when a suicide bomber blasted himself injuring at least three policemen including an official. The report said that police received a tip-off by intelligence sources that a suicide bomber may target some sensitive area in the city on Thursday so the police were checking all the vehicles entering in the city.

#11: According to local authorities in northern Afghanistan, an Afghan intelligence, National Directorate for Security official was critically wounded following a roadside bomb explosion in northern Kunduz province. A spokesman for provincial police chief Syed Sarwar Hussaini confirming the incident said, the incident took place after the vehicle of the Afghan intelligence official struck with a roadside bomb wounding him critically.

War News for Wednesday, January 18, 2011

2012-01-18T03:46:00.000-08:00

Pakistan rejects US envoy visit

Coalition limits details on troops killed by Afghans

Pakistan to resume jet fuel supply to Afghanistan

British troops in Afghan child abuse investigation

Reported security incidents
#1: Afghanistan's government says its security forces have killed nine armed insurgents and captured 23 suspects in a series of raids across the country. An Interior Ministry statement issued Wednesday morning said the operations over the preceding 24 hours in eight different provinces also discovered caches of weapons, ammunition and explosives. Meanwhile, the country's Defence Ministry says a soldier was killed and four were wounded in clashes with insurgents on Tuesday.

#2: Pakistani reporter Mukarram Khan Aatif, who worked for the Voice of America, was shot and killed in a mosque in northwest Pakistan, VOA reported. The report said the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for Aatif's assassination Tuesday in Shabqadar, a small town about 25 miles from Peshawar, capital of the violence-ravaged Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The report, quoting police and witnesses, said Aatif, who was in his 40s, was shot in the head and chest by two people who arrived at the mosque where the journalist was offering his evening prayers. The assassins escaped.

#3: Annoyed with the silence of the government and others over the US drone intrusions, gun-totting tribesmen took things in their hands on Tuesday and fired at the drones that appeared over North Waziristan Agency. Local people said that more than six unmanned planes were seen flying at low altitude over Miramshah, Razmak, Datakhel, Mirali, Shawal and other areas of North Waziristan throughout the day.Angry tribesmen in some areas started heavy firing on the drones. Witnesses said that tribesmen used Kalashnikov rifles and heavy machineguns to shoot down the intruding
unmanned planes. According to reports, drones also flew over Azam Warsak area of the adjacent South Waziristan Agency.

#4: Casualties were feared as a blast rocked Kunduz city, capital of Kunduz province, some 250 km north of Afghan capital city of Kabul, provincial police sources said Wednesday.

#5: A suicide car bomb struck close to a military base in eastern Afghan province of Nangahar on Tuesday, killing two people including the attacker and wounding two others, an official said. "A suicide bomber set off his explosive-laden car next to a military base in Ghani Khil district in Nangarhar province at 02: 30 p.m. local time Tuesday, as a result one guard at the gate of the base was killed and two others sustained injuries," spokesman of the provincial administration Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told Xinhua.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, an explosion rocked eastern Khost province on Wednesday. The officials further added, the incident took place around 11:00 am local time on Wednesday after an explosive device attached to a Corolla type vehicle went off in the area. Provincial security chief for eastern Khost province Gen. Mohammad Yaqoob said, the explosion took place as a result of a magnetic bomb which destroyed the vehicle. Gen. Yaqoob further added, there were no civilian casualties as a result of the incident.

#7: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, at least two Afghan police service members were injured following mortar attack in eastern Nangarhar province. The officials further added, the incident took place at fourth district of Jalalabad city after a mortar struck a police check post. Provincial security chief Gen. Masoom Hashimi confirming the report said, the incident took place on Tuesday night around 8 pm local time.

DoD: Cpl. Jon-Luke Bateman

DoD: Lance Cpl. Kenneth E. Cochran

War News for Tuesday, January 17, 2011

2012-01-17T03:25:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin B. Wise died at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl Germany on Sunday, January 15th. He was wounded from a small arms fire attack in Balkh province, Afghanistan on Monday, January 9th.

Albania Sends Fresh Soldiers to Afghanistan

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 17, Jan. 16th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan authorities say a prominent anti-Taliban tribal leader has been assassinated while praying inside a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar. Armed insurgents entered the mosque and gunned down Mohammad Nahim Agha Mama as he prayed Tuesday morning. The Kandahar governor's office condemned the killing as "an anti-Islamic and antihuman act" that desecrated a place of worship. It said the Pashtun tribal leader and local council member of Dand district was well-known for encouraging peace and urging his followers not to join the Taliban.

#2: Three American private contractors working for the Defense Department were killed when their helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan on Monday, their company said. The contractors' company, AAR Airlift, said that there were no other passengers on the helicopter and that the cause of the crash was not yet known.

#3: Two people while planning mine were killed on Sunday with their own mine in Maiwand district of Kandahar province. According to Zulmay Ayoubi, Kandahar governor’s spokesman two people while planting a mine in a public road in Musa area of Maiwand district were killed due to explosion of their own mine. Ayoubi said the individuals had planted eight mines on the roadside which one of them blown while being planted.

#4: Ten militants were killed in a skirmish with Pakistani paramilitary forces in the Kohlu area of the southwestern Baluchistan province, security officials said.

#5: Militants set off explosives next to a natural gas pipeline in the Sui area of Baluchistan, damaging a section, local government officials said.

#6: An Afghan Taliban local leader was killed in a search operation in the country's eastern province of Ghazni, a provincial security official said on Tuesday. "Based on intelligence, a special unite of Afghan Directorate of Security (NDS) launched a search operation to capture a Taliban local leader in Gilan district of Ghazni province Monday night," head of provincial department of NDS, Amir Shah Sadat, told reporters in provincial capital of Ghanzi city. He said two other insurgents were also killed in the incident, adding that no civilian or NDS personnel were injured in the raid in the province 125 km south of capital city of Kabul.

#7: Afghan and coalition forces killed seven insurgents and detained five suspected individuals in eastern Afghanistan during operations throughout the past 24 hours, Jan. 16.

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin B. Wise

War News for Monday, January 16, 2011

2012-01-16T04:31:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from non-combat related injuries in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, January 15th.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 16

Police Officers Are Killed in Insurgent Attacks in Iraq

Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan official says a civilian helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing all three people on board. Marjan Haqmal, police chief of Nad Ali district in Helmand province, says the Russian-made aircraft probably went down because of a technical malfunction. NATO confirmed that a civilian helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan on Monday. It said the site of the crash has been secured and that coalition forces are trying to gather more information about what happened. NATO did not provide information about casualties.

According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, a NATO helicopter crashed in southern Helmand province on Monday. The officials further added, the incident took place on Monday afternoon at Shawol area of Nad-e-Ali district.

#2: According to Afghan Defense officials, at least two Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and two others were injured following military operations across the country. The source further added, at least two National Army soldiers were killed in Delaram district of western Nimroz province while two other National Army soldiers were injured at Shahjoi district in Helmand province and Manogi district of eastern Kunar province.

News of the Day for Sunday, January 15, 2012

2012-01-15T05:44:00.000-08:00

NATO says two service members died today of non-combat injuries in the southern part of the country. No further information is available.

Afghans welcome heavy snowfall in Kabul. (Although this story doesn't point it out, snow tends to slow down fighting in the country.)

Afghan police say they seized 70 kilos of heroin in Nangarhar although, oddly, the driver of the vehicle escaped. (Hmm.) To put this in perspective, Afghanistan is estimated to have produced 6,400 tons of opium last year.)

A Pakistani parliamentary committee has finalized recommendations for a new partnership agreement with the U.S., which could result in re-opening of the border to NATO supply operations. Presumably, this would be conditional on restoration of $800 million in aid the U.S. withdrew.

Australian newspaper The Age has obtained a secret U.S. army report casting doubt on the readiness of Afghan forces to take over security responsibility in 2014. The report focuses on a Taliban attack in the town of Tarin Kowt last summer. The version released to the newspaper was heavily redacted. Excerpt:

the US report paints a picture of confusion, with Afghan forces failing to respond to a key part of the Taliban assault - an attempt to kill a militia leader who is a close ally of Australian special forces. Afghan forces were either absent or stood by and watched as US troops attacked Taliban fighters who had blasted their way into the government broadcasting station adjoining the compound of militia leader Matiullah Khan. . . .

The Australian Defence Force praised what it said was the prompt, professional and co-ordinated Afghan response to the Taliban attack in Tarin Kowt on July 28 last year. But the US report paints a picture of confusion, with Afghan forces failing to respond to a key part of the Taliban assault - an attempt to kill a militia leader who is a close ally of Australian special forces.

Afghan forces were either absent or stood by and watched as US troops attacked Taliban fighters who had blasted their way into the government broadcasting station adjoining the compound of militia leader Matiullah Khan.

Adding to the confusion was the fact US troops could not distinguish between official Afghan forces and the militia. While Afghan forces repelled a related Taliban assault on the nearby governor's office, US troops were on their own at the broadcasting station. Standard procedure was for Afghan forces to take the lead in clearing a building where the Taliban were holed up. . . .

In their absence, US troops stormed the building, with disastrous consequences. Two Taliban fighters detonated suicide vests, burying seven soldiers, including the battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel David Oeschger, who was seriously wounded.

In what the report says was the ''stress and urgency of the moment'', a US soldier then shot dead Afghan journalist Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber. Afghan forces only moved into the building once the Taliban and the journalist were killed, and wounded Americans were dug out of the rubble.

The Governor of Nuristan begs for more security forces. "[Governor] Tamim Nuristani, said he has been able to maintain security in some areas in cooperation with local councils, but some militant groups still threaten government workers travelling between Kunar and Nuristan. "Not only the Taliban militants, but also militants from Hezb-e-Islami and some other groups are behind insecurity in the area," Mr Tamim Nuristani said. Meanwhile, civilians have also complained about security threat on the Nuristan-Kunar routes. . . . The limited number of Afghan security forces in the province is the main reason behind insecurity in many districts, the governor added."

Iraq Update

Ten killed, 14 injured, in a series of attacks on government buildings in Ramadi. Three police, 6 insurgents, and 1 civilian are said to be among the dead. Other reports have higher numbers of wounded. Meanwhile, Al Arabiya says 5 are dead, and a mosque is among the targets, while Reuters says 6 are dead. (Hopefully we'll have a clearer picture tomorrow.)

Car bomb in Baiji kills 1 person, injures 12.

In case you didn't know . . . I was intrigued to read last week that a U.S. Coast Guard vessel had rescued Iranian sailors who had an engine room fire. What is a coast guard cutter doing in the Gulf? The Coast Guard does possess pelagic vessels, which they call High Endurance Cutters, which are essentially warships. However, the vessel involved, USCGC Monomoy, is a so-called Island Class cutter, rated for 5 days at sea. It turns out that in 2003, the U.S. established a Coast Guard base in Bahrain to which it transported 6 Island Class cutters, and they've been there ever since. (I'm not sure how they transported them -- whether they somehow loaded them on cargo vessels or towed them -- I'd be interested to know. The unit is called Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, and you get a Global War on Terror expeditionary medal for serving.

War News for Saturday, January 14, 2011

2012-01-14T03:54:00.000-08:00

U.S. troops quietly surge into Middle East

Iraq suicide attack kills 50 pilgrims

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 14, Jan. 13th.

Baghdad Governor: Four armed Americans arrested in Iraq

Reported security incidents
#1: Two Fort Drum soldiers faced leg amputations after suffering major injuries in an improvised explosive device attack in Afghanistan early this week. The soldiers, Spc. Joseph A. Mille and Pfc. Rex Tharp, were injured Tuesday while on patrol in Kandahar Province. Pfc. Tharp, 20, North Manchester, Ind., was injured when he detonated an IED while kneeling next to a wall. His team’s leader, Spc. Mille, 20, Atlantic City, N.J., detonated another IED while running to Pfc. Tharp’s aid.

#2: A roadside bomb killed two women in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Saturday, the latest civilians killed by one of the Taliban's most effective but also indiscriminate weapons. The women were walking along a road in the southern province of Helmand when they stepped on the buried explosives Friday, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#3: The Defence Department says two Australian soldiers have been wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in south-west Afghanistan. Defence says the soldiers were travelling in their Bushmaster vehicle when it struck an improvised explosive device (IED) yesterday a few kilometres south of the multi-national base at Tarin Kot.

#4: Police say gunmen and suicide bombers have attacked a police station in northwestern Pakistan, sparking a firefight that has left at least three officers injured. Police official in Dera Ismail Khan district Mohammad Nawaz says that the fighting at the police chief's office in the northwestern region was still continuing about two hours after it began midday on Saturday. He says that eight or 10 attackers wearing police uniforms besieged the station, and two suicide bombers detonated their explosives during the battle.

#5: At least 7 armed insurgents were killed and 6 others were detained following military operations by Afghan security forces during the past 24 hours. According to a press release by Afghan Interior Affairs Ministry, the operations were conducted by Afghan police forces in conjunction with the Afghan National Army and NATO-led coalition forces in Faryab, Helmand, Zabul, Wardak, Paktika and Logar provinces.

#6: In the meantime, officials in the ministry of defense of announced that at least 5 Afghan national army soldiers were killed and injured. Afghan defense ministry officials following a statement said, at least 1 Afghan Army soldier was killed and four others were injured after a vehicle of the Afghan National Army soldiers crashed in Tang-e-Gharo. Another Afghan Army soldier was also killed in Zherai district of southern Kandahar province, the officials said.

DoD: Pfc. Neil I. Turner

War News for Friday, January 13, 2011

2012-01-13T03:21:00.000-08:00

Opium production soars in Afghanistan

Afghan drugs: Opium price rises by 133%

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 13, Jan. 12th.

Reported security incidents
#1: As many as seven Pakistani Army soldiers have been killed and three others wounded in an ambush by militants in South Waziristan tribal region in the northwest of the country near the border with Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Security forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident took place in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan region on Thursday, when militants ambushed the troops, who were planting mines in the area. The Army soldiers returned the gunshots fired. However, the militants managed to escape unscathed from the area.

#2: Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has killed the governor of Panjwai district in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province. Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq said Governor Sayed Fazludin Agha, along with his two sons, were traveling when a suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into Agha's convoy. A report quoting an Afghan government office said two of Agha’s bodyguards were also killed. An official at the Kandahar central hospital said at least 13 wounded police officers were receiving medical treatment.

#3: Three Pakistani security personnel, who had been injured in an overnight militants attack in the country's northwest, died Friday, police said. Police said that nine security men were injured when over a hundred militants Thursday night attacked the Police Post in Sarband, an area on the boundary of the restive Khyber tribal region and Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police said that nine paramilitary soldiers and police had been injured when heavily armed militants launched the late night attack. The check post is jointly manned by the paramilitary Frontier Corps and the police. Local media quoted police as saying that three militants were also killed in fire by the security personnel. Police sources said that the militants used rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons in the attack.

#4: U.S. Army Specialist Joshua Saul was serving in Afghanistan when a sniper shot him in the back. Saul's wounds were extensive and he went through multiple surgeries at San Antonio Military Medical Center to repair the damage.

#5: International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan following a press release on Friday announced Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation in search of a Taliban leader in Almar district, Faryab province on Wednesday. The source further added, the targeted leader is an explosives expert with ties to suicide-attack networks known to target Afghan government officials. ISAF officials, he is suspected of planning a suicide-bomb attack that killed an Afghan security official in October 2011. According to ISAF officials, several insurgents were killed in response to militants fire at the security force during the operation.

DoD: Pfc. Michael W. Pyron

War News for Thursday, January 12, 2011

2012-01-12T03:48:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 11th.

Taliban: Afghan talks won't mean end to fighting

US probes urination on dead Taliban fighters

Intelligence study glum on Afghan war

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 12, Jan 11th.

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of January 10, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: An Australian sailor serving in Afghanistan as an explosives expert has been sent home to recover from injuries sustained in a roadside bomb attack. The sailor and two other Australian soldiers were wounded in the attack, which happened during an operational mission on January 2, about 60km northwest of the army base at Tarin Kowt. The sailor was one of a small team of navy experts serving in Afghanistan with the Combined Team-Uruzgan.

#2: At least 14 soldiers were killed late Wednesday when suspected Baluch separatists ambushed their vehicle in Pakistan''s southwestern Baluchistan province. Pakistani officials said the incident took place in Turbat district near the Iranian border.

#3: Eight militants were killed when Pakistani fighter jets bombed their hideouts in the Jogi area of the northwestern Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, security officials said.

#4: Afghan police backed by national army and the NATO-led troops have killed 11 Taliban militants and detained 17 others across the country over the past 24 hours, a press release of Interior Ministry issued here said on Thursday. These operations have been conducted in Kapisa, Helmand, Faryab, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni and Khost provinces to stabilize security in the country, the press release said. Two more militants sustained injuries during the operations, it added. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the security forces.

#5: At least one Taliban militant was killed and another militant was injured following armed clashes with the Afghan police forces at Adraskan district of western Herat province. Provincial police commandment in western Herat province following a press release said, the clashes took place at Kotal Palangi area in eastern regions of Adraskan district while the Taliban militants were collecting Zakat in the area.

#6: At least four employees of a private road construction company was killed by armed militants in central-eastern Maidan Wardak province. A provincial governor spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, the dead bodies of the four individuals working for the road construction project was found in Syedabad district of Maidan Wardak province. Mr. Shahid further added, the deceased invidividuals were the residents of Baghlan province and were kidnapped by the Taliban militants. He also said, Afghan police forces were ambushed by the Taliban militants while they were trying to evacuate the dead bodies of the construction project employees. Provincial governor spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the Taliban fighters fled the area and there were no casualties as a result the clashes.

#7: At least 2 Afghan civilians were killed and three others were injured following a roadside bomb explosion in southern Kandahar province. According to a statement issued by Kandahar provincial media office, the incident took place on Wednesday afternoon at Mano Kondlano village in Shahwalikot district of southern Kandahar province, killing at least two Afghan civilians and injuring two other civilians. The source further added, the incident took place after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb. Another explosion took place at Takhtpol district after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb, officials said. According to local officials, at least one Afghan civilian was injured during the second explosion.

War News for Wednesday, January 11, 2011

2012-01-11T03:04:00.000-08:00

Spaniard Named to Senior NATO Post in Afghanistan

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 11. Jan. 10th.

Reported security incidents
#1: 'A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Kandahar police headquarters while General Abdul Razzaq was still there,' Rahmatullah Atrafi, the provincial deputy police chief, told dpa. This is the second time General Razzaq has been targeted since he became the police chief last year after a suicide bomber killed his predecessor General Khan Mohammad Mujahid. 'Only the bomber was killed. No one was injured in the attack,' Atrafi said of Wednesday's bombing. However, according to an official at Kandahar Hospital, one Afghan policeman injured in the attack was taken to hospital.

#2: The U.S. carried out its first drone strike into Pakistan since errant November airstrikes by U.S. forces killed two dozen Pakistani troops along the Afghan border. The latest missile attack killed four militants, three of them Arabs, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. The drone strike took place Tuesday near Miran Shah in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold that has been pounded by the U.S. since the drone program began in earnest in 2009.

#3: A bomb exploded in a market in the town of Landi Kotal in the northwestern Khyber tribal region, wounding six people, local security officials said.

#4: Afghan police in conjunction with national army and the NATO-led troops have killed 10 Taliban insurgents and captured 40 others over the past 24 hours, a statement of Interior Ministry released here Wednesday said.

#5: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, at least 15 people were killed and injured following a missile attack on Afghan National Army base at Mandakol in eastern Kunar province. The officials further added, the incident took place around 1:00 pm local time on Tuesday. Provincial public health administration chief Dr. Asadullah Fazli said, at least 14 injured individuals and 1 dead body have been taken to the provincial hospital. Dr. Fazli further added, the deceased person is a member of the Afghan national army. He also said, at least 2 Afghan civilians and 12 Afghan national army soldiers were among those injured during the incident.

DoD: Pfc. Dustin P. Napier

War News for Tuesday, January 10, 2011

2012-01-10T03:40:00.000-08:00

Why do we ignore the civilians killed in American wars?

Reported security incidents
#1: Police killed three potential suicide bombers in Afghanistan's volatile east on Tuesday after the attackers stormed a government building and a gunfight was continuing against a fourth assailant, authorities said. Two policemen were killed in the firefight, the ministry of the interior said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Paktika province, which shares a porous and ill-defined border with Pakistan. The four insurgents, with small explosives strapped to their bodies and carrying grenade launchers, targeted the government communications office near the home of the Paktika governor Mohebullah Samim. “One policeman was killed and part of the communications building is now on fire,” Samim told Reuters, adding the fourth insurgent “was still resisting”. Troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were providing air support, he said.

#2: A remote-controlled bomb blast killed 35 people and wounded more than 60 others in the deadliest attack in months in the Taliban-hit tribal region of northwest Pakistan. The explosion on Tuesday took place in a market in Jamrud, one of the towns of the troubled Khyber tribal region, which also used to serve as the main supply route for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan. 'The total number of deaths in the blast is 35 while 69 people were wounded, and of them the condition of 11 is critical,' a senior administration official Shakeel Khan Umarzai told AFP.

A bomb has killed at least 23 people and wounded 26 when it exploded near a fuel station in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber region, one of the restive tribal areas where insurgents are battling government forces, regional officials said. "It was a huge blast and caused damage to a number of vehicles at (a) bus terminal," said Khyber tribesman Khan Zaman from the Jamrud bazaar, around 25 kilometres west of the city of Peshawar. Tribesman said members of the pro-government Zakhakhel tribal militia were the target of the attack. Members of the militia - or "lashkar" - were filling their vehicles at the station when the bomb exploded. Assistant Political Agent Jamrud Mohammad Jamil Khan said three members of the Khasadar tribal police force were killed.

#3: Ten Taliban insurgents were killed in an operation by Afghan and foreign forces in northern Afghanistan, Afghan police said Tuesday. Sher Jan Durani, a police spokesman for the northern province of Balkh, said the rebels were killed overnight in the province's Charchenak district. 'Insurgents used rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire to engage the security force,' the statement said.

#4: An Afghan soldier turned his gun on U.S. military personnel while they were playing volleyball at a camp in southern Afghanistan, killing one and wounding three others before being fatally shot, the Afghan police said Monday. It was the third time in just over two weeks that a man wearing an Afghan Army uniform attacked NATO personnel. In the earlier cases, the Taliban claimed responsibility, although there was no immediate claim in this case that the Afghan soldier had Taliban sympathies. The attack took place Sunday afternoon in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province. The Afghan soldier approached the volleyball game and appeared to watch the soldiers play before opening fire with an M-16 assault rifle, said Ghulam Jilani Farahi, deputy police chief of Zabul province. Another U.S. soldier who heard the firing shot and killed the attacker, he said.

#5: A total of six people were injured Tuesday morning when two successive blasts rocked Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, said the country's Interior Ministry. "Initially, there was a mine explosion in front of a shop in the first precinct of Jalalabad city at around 6:00 a.m. local time, with no casualties, but shortly after a unit of police arrived in the scene another bomb went off, injuring six people," the ministry said in a press release. It said the injured include two policemen, two mine clearance personnel, a child and a member of Afghan National Directorate of Security or intelligence agency.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jonathan M. Metzger

DoD: Spc. Robert J. Tauteris Jr.

DoD: Spc. Christopher A. Patterson

DoD: Spc. Brian J. Leonhardt

War News for Monday, January 09, 2011

2012-01-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier apparently from an ANA soldier in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, January 8th.

Hammond soldier the lone survivor of Afghanistan explosion

Official: Beheaded bodies of 10 Pakistani soldiers found

Security developments in Iraq, January 9, Jan 8th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Seven suspected Taliban militants have been killed in a special operation in Afghanistan, a government spokesman said. A unit of the Afghan National Directorate of Security launched an operation Sunday on a Taliban hideout in Mirmandab area of Gereshk district in the southern province of Helmand, Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua. An exchange of fire broke out shortly after the intelligence agency forces arrived at the compound, leaving seven militants dead. Four of them were later identified as Malawi Mansour, Abdul Raziq, Mullah Maluk and Shekari. No members of the security force or civilians were injured in the raid, he said.

#2: Three civilians were killed and another sustained injuries as a suicide bomber blew himself up in Khost city, the capital of Khost province 150 km southeast of capital city Kabul Sunday evening, police said. "A man strapped explosive device in his body blew himself up next to a police checkpoint in Khost city last evening killing three civilians including two children," senior police officer in Khost city Sardar Mohammad Zazai told Xinhua. Another civilian was injured in the blast, he said, adding the suicide bomber was also killed in the explosion. There were no casualties on police, he added.

#3: According to local authorities in northern Afghanistan, at least four militants including two Taliban commanders were killed following an air raid by NATO-led coalition forces in northern Jowzjan province.

#4: Afghan Defense Ministry officials following a press release on Monday said, at least 5 Afghan National Army soldiers were injured during the past 24 hours. The source further added, the soldiers were injured during military operations at Sabari district of eastern Khost province.

DoD: Senior Airman Bryan R. Bell

DoD: Tech. Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz

DoD: Airman 1st Class Matthew R. Seidler

News of the Day for Sunday, January 8, 2011

2012-01-08T05:21:00.000-08:00

Here we go again: Afghan inmates 'tortured, abused' at US-run prison. Of course, if there aren't any pictures, nobody will care:

Afghanistan investigators revealed that many inmates were held without evidence at Bagram prison, officially known as the Parwan Detention Center that holds 3,000 detainees, including terror suspects. . . . The head of the commission investigating abuse accusations, Gul Rahman Qazi, said prisoners had complained of abuse including beatings, humiliating body searches and being exposed to extreme cold.

"During our visit to Bagram some of the prisoners talked of misconduct, some alleged they had been tortured," he said.

This Russian news service has more. (For some mysterious reason I'm not finding a lot about this in U.S. media, at least not yet.)

A small group of Taliban are said to have laid down their arms in Herat and joined the peace process in a formal ceremony.

The U.S. is now testing pilotless cargo helicopters in Afghanistan. Hey, why not turn the whole war over to the robots?

Eric Schmitt of the NYT says CIA drone attacks in Pakistan have been suspended since November due to tensions between the U.S and Pakistan. According to his informants, this has allowed militant groups in Pakistan, including the Haqqani network, to regroup and increase their activities. Make of it what you will. I link to this MSNBC reprint so people won't have to burn their NYT freebie privilege, in case that matters to someone.

Iraq Update

Twin bombings in Karbala, targeting Shiite pilgrims, kill 2 and injure 13.

Explosion in Mahmoudiya kills 1 pilgrim and injures 5.

Interior Ministry formally calls on Kurdistan to hand over Hashimi. Titular Iraqi president Jalal Talabani says he will go to Baghdad this week to discuss the issue. Meanwhile the Iraqiya bloc is showing signs of strain, with six members suspended over dissent about the tactic of blocking the session of parliament.

Isaac J. Bailey hopes for the best for the Iraqi people, but concludes it's not up to the U.S. to secure it for them. Meanwhile, Mike Dorning of Bloomberg News totes up the financial cost:

Direct federal spending on the war through 2012 will reach $823 billion, surpassing the $738 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars the U.S. spent on the Vietnam War, the Congressional Research Service estimated in a March 29 report. Only World War II had a higher direct cost, $4.1 trillion, in current dollars. Not counted in that is the interest of more than $200 billion the federal government has already had to pay on the resulting debt, said Linda Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public finance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Bilmes also estimates the price over the next 40 years of health care and disability compensation for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts will be almost $1 trillion. “The veterans’ costs in particular will dwarf the other budget costs,” said Bilmes, who was an assistant commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton.

By any measure, the price of the Iraq conflict has far outstripped forecasts by President George W. Bush’s administration as it made the case to go to war. Then-White House budget director Mitch Daniels and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld projected the U.S. would spend $50 billion to $60 billion and said they believed part of that would be defrayed by other countries.

War News for Saturday, January 07, 2011

2012-01-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

Airman on the mend after losing limbs in Afghanistan

5 million illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan, NA told

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 7, Jan. 6th.

Reported security incidents
#1: Local authorities in southern Afghanistan on Saturday said, at least two private security guards working for a road construction were assassinated by unknown gunmen in southern Uruzgan province. The officials further added, another security guard was also injured during the incident which took place at Sarmorghab area in Tarinkowt district of southern Uruzgan province. According to officials, the private security guards were providing security for a GTZ project in this province. Provincial criminal chief Gen. Gulab Khan confirming the incident said, at least two security guards were killed and another one was injured during the incident.

#2: Militants fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a Pakistan army camp in the town of Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region, military officials said. There were no casualties.

#3: Militants set off explosives next to a gas pipeline in the Jaffarabad area of the southwestern Baluchistan province late on Friday, damaging a 20-foot section of the pipeline, security officials said on Saturday.

#4: A roadside mine killed four auxiliary policemen and wounded one in Shindand district of western Herat province on Friday, said Mohammad Nabi, a district governor in Shindand.

Geo/MoD: Corporal Shalva Pailodze

War News for Friday, January 06, 2011

2012-01-06T03:43:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, January 5th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, January 6th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, January 6th.

Karzai Demands US Hand Over Afghan Prisoners

Rockets hit Green Zone as Iraq marks Army Day

Baghdad Bombings Kill 78

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 6, jan 5th

Aswat Al Iraq/ 'Latest News'

Reported security incidents
#1: The security forces killed five suspected militants in Orakzai tribal region on Friday, official sources said. Sources said that security forces pounded militant safe-houses in Mamozai and Khadizai areas of upper Orakzai region, destroying at least two hideouts.

#2: Seven people including six children lost their lives as a bomb went off in Uruzgan province 370km south of Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, police said. "The gruesome incident happened in the bazaar of provincial capital Trinkot at around 03:00 p.m. local time as a result seven people including six children were martyred on the spot," police spokesman in Trinkot city Mohammad Farid Aael told Xinhua. Four more children sustained injuries in the deadly incident, he added. The explosive device was planted inside a garbage bucket along a road in Trinkot bazaar, he said, adding the insurgents apparantly wanted to target security forces but it exploded claiming seven lives including six children.

#3: An Italian soldier in Afghanistan was injured Friday when a bomb exploded nearby, Italian military sources said. The soldier, whose injuries are not life-threatening, was on foot patrol when he was struck by the blast in the western part of the country, according to commanders from the Italian contingent of the NATO mission. The bomb was the second in three days to injure an Italian soldier in western Afghanistan. A private was hurt Wednesday when an IED (roadside bomb) went off as his convoy drove past in the district of Gulistan, where Italian troops are stationed.

War News for Thursday, January 5, 2011

2012-01-05T03:56:00.000-08:00

Seven years after sieges, Fallujah struggles

Four blasts kill 29, wounds dozens in Iraq's capital

Jury selection to begin for last Marine accused in Iraq killings

Pakistan border closure leaves Canadian supplies stuck in Afghanistan

Reported security incidents
#1: Attackers gunned down a local government official on his way to a mosque in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Thursday, in the latest hit on a government figure. Haji Fazel Mohammad was shot on his way to evening prayers Wednesday in the volatile district of Sangin in Helmand province, the governor’s office said. The attackers escaped. Mohammad served on the local council for Sangin.

#2: Armed men seized a Red Cross worker from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday, police and the organization said. Local police officer Nazir Ahmed Kurd said his initial information was that the man was a British health worker. But an intelligence official in the city said the man was Yemeni. The official didn't give his name because he is not allowed to be identified in the media.

#3: Pakistani militants today killed 15 security force members they kidnapped a month ago on the Afghan border. The men's naked, bullet-ridden bodies were dumped in Shiwa, in the north Waziristan region, in a fresh blow to attempts by the government to stage peace talks with insurgent factions. Constabulary commander Ali Sher confirmed the men had been killed and said his men had been sent to the area to recover the bodies. In a statement, the Pakistani Taliban said the murders were in retaliation for an army operation on Sunday in the region that killed several militants, including a prominent commander.

#4: THREE Australian soldiers have been wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan. The incident occurred during an operational mission on January 2, about 60km northwest of the Multi-National Base at Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan Province, the Australian Defence Force revealed in a statement on Thursday.

#5: Two insurgents were killed during an operation by Afghan troops and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the central province of Wardak on Tuesday, ISAF said. The operaton targeted a Taliban leader, the coalition said.

#6: Several insurgents were killed during an operation by Afghan troops and ISAF in central Ghazni province on Tuesday targeting a Taliban weapons facilitator, ISAF said.

MoD: Rifleman Sachin Limbu

War News for Wednesday, January 04, 2011

2012-01-04T03:47:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham U.K. on Monday, January 2nd. The soldier was originally wounded from an IED blast somewhere in Afghanistan sometime in June 2010.

Mass grave found in Afghan army compound

NATO vehicles being moved to Karachi

NATO to pull $30bn worth of gear from Afghanistan

Two Britons with 'dozens of AK-47s' detained in Kabul

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 4, Jan 3rd.

Reported security incidents
#1: update Three bomb blasts in southern Afghanistan have killed at least 11 people and wounded many more. Afghan officials say all three attacks -- two by suicide bombers -- occurred in Kandahar city on January 3.

On Tuesday evening a suicide bomber detonated a tricycle in downtown Kandahar, killing four civilians and three policeman and injuring over a dozen, the police chief for the province General Abdul Raziq said. Earlier in the day, another suicide bomber set off an explosive-laden motorbike in the city centre, killing four children and one policeman, Raziq said. Sixteen others, including policemen and civilians, were injured. That attack was aimed at a mobile police post, he said. The latest blast, which no one has so far claimed responsibility for, happened just minutes after a smaller explosion, likely caused by an improvised explosive device, Raziq added.

#2: Eleven militants were killed on Wednesday when Pakistani gunship helicopters attacked their hideouts in the Jogi area of the northwestern Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, security officials said. The death toll could not be independently verified, and militants often dispute official accounts.

#3: Meanwhile, seven suspected militants were killed and one wounded on Wednesday as two banned groups clashed together in Khyber Agency, DawnNews reported. According to government sources, the incident took place in the Nari Baba area of district Landi Kotal. Twelve militants have been killed so far during the week as a result of infighting between the two rival groups.

#4: A remote-controlled bomb exploded in the Landi Kotal area of the northwestern Khyber tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, killing four people, including three policemen, and wounding six, security officials said.

#5: One Afghan civilian was killed and five wounded, including a policeman, in an explosion in the western city of Herat, the Ministry of the Interior said. The Ministry said police were investigating the blast in the Darwaza-E-Kabul area of the city.

DoD: Petty Officer 1st Class Chad R. Regelin

War News for Tuesday, January 03, 2011

2012-01-03T03:25:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, January 2nd.

Panetta to Offer Strategy for Cutting Military Budget

Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber driving a motorcycle killed four civilians and a police officer in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar city on Tuesday, police said. Gen. Abul Razaq, Kandahar provincial police chief, said the attack also wounded 16 people, including three police officers and six children. The bomber detonated his explosives at a police checkpoint, he said.

A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacked an Afghan police patrol in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, killing a girl and injuring a dozen people, officials said. The attacker drove into several police in Kandahar city, the capital with of the province with the same name, police chief General Abdul Razzaq said.

#2: A bomb exploded in the basement of a building on the busy Arbab Road of Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The chief of Khyber Teaching Hospital said it had received 24 injured victims

#3: A mortar shell was also fired at a busy market in Khyber, one of seven tribal districts near the Afghan border. District official Rehman Shah said three people were killed and another three injured in the attack.

#4: According to local authorities in north-eastern Afghanistan, at least two Taliban militants were killed following armed clashes in Kapisa province. The officials further added, the incident took place in Nejrab district of Kapisa province and at least four other militants were also detained during the incident. Nejrab district security chief Ata Mohammad Nazari on Tuesday said, the clashes between the militants and Afghan security forces started after the Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of the Afghan National Army.

War News for Monday, January 02, 2011

2012-01-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

The Georgian MoD is reporting the death of a Georgian ISAF soldier from an IED attack in Helmand province Afghanistan on presumably on Saturday, December 31st.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, December 31st.

'Taliban won't attack Pak security forces'

Tapi gas pipeline project: Afghanistan blocks progress

Ship with Nato supplies berths at port

41 suicide attacks killed 606, injured over 1000 in 2011: CMC

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 1, Dec 31st

In Afghanistan, Poppy Growing Proves Resilient

Reported security incidents
#1: A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles into a vehicle in Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, killing at least four militants, local intelligence officials said. Shortly afterwards, two more missiles were fired on militants who were busy in rescue work at the site of the first strike, killing four more insurgents.

#2: Three civilians were killed as a roadside bomb struck their car on Monday in Logar province, 60 km south of capital city Kabul, an official said. "The tragic incident took place outside provincial capital Pul- e-Alam at around 10:00 a.m. local time leaving three civilians including a child dead," spokesman for provincial administration Deen Mohammad Darvish told Xinhua.

#3: A suicide blast apparently targeted police post in Behsood district, Nangarhar province with Jalalabad as its capital 120 km east of Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, killing himself and wounding another, a local official said. "A man strapped explosive device in his body and was walking towards a police checkpoint in Behsood district at around 10:30 a. m. local time blew himself up on the way towards the police checkpoint as a result a child around was injured," governor of Behsood district Nematullah Khan told Xinhua.

#4: At least ten Afghan National Army service members were killed and injured in various incidents across the country. Afghan Defense Ministry officials following a statement said, at least three Afghan Army soldiers were killed and 7 others were injured. The source further added, Afghan soldiers were killed and injured following various incidents in Maidan Wardak, Nuristan and Laghman provinces. The officials also said, at least nine militants were also killed and injured during the Afghan national army operations. According to Ministry officials, at least 7 armed militants were killed and two others were injured during the operations in Tagab district at Kapisa province.

Geo/MoD: Corporal Besik Niniashvili

DoD: Spc. Pernell J. Herrera

MoD: Private John King

FR/MoD: L’adjudant-chef Mohammed El Gharrafi

FR/MoD: Le légionnaire de 1re classe Franjkovic

News of the Day for Sunday, January 1, 2012

2012-01-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

AFP reviews the toll of war for foreign troops in Afghanistan in 2011, noting the deaths of 565, 417 of them American and 45 British. This is fewer than the 711 who died in 2010, but is the second highest since the war began. Without trying to give a number, AFP also notes that "it is Afghan civilians who have paid the highest price." While the U.S. claims that overall violence in Afghanistan declined last year, the UN says otherwise.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says Afghan Taliban are "not necessarily an enemy," opening the way for the U.S. to join peace talks. President Hamid Karzai welcomes these remarks, and accepts a plan to open a Taliban diplomatic office in Qatar.

NATO formally hands over security responsibility to Afghan forces in Nad Ali, Nawa and Marjah.

France's Defense Minister, visiting troops in Afghanistan, supports talks with the Taliban.

However, the fractious nature of Afghan politics seems to be shown by remarks of International Relations Chief of the High Peace Council, Ismaiel Qasemyar, who says that if Taliban attacks within Afghanistan continue while Qatar is providing living expenses for the families of the Taliban delegation, Qatar and the international community will be guilty of supporting attacks on Afghanistan. (Yep, he apparently said that.)

And whatever hopeful news there is brings with it many challenges, As Jennifer Glasse reports for Al Jazeera. (Video)

Plot is foiled to assassinate the Chief of the Afghan Commission for Security Transition Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in Helmand Province, where he was visiting.

A 15-year-old Afghan girl was brutally tortured, beaten and locked in a toilet by her in-laws for five months after she refused to become a prostitute, it has emerged. This occurred in Baghlan province. Lest this be taken as one more indictment of Afghan cultural norms, she was rescued by police and they are making a serious effort to capture the perpetrators.

Iraq Update

Fortune teller injured by bombing in Kirkuk. (Unclear why he didn't anticipate this. -- C

Six Sahwa fighters killed in attack on a checkpoint near Baquba.

The movement for Sunni Arab autonomy continues to grow, here a report from the street.

Saturday, December 31, is now designated "Iraq Day,", commemorating the official deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal.

Tariq Hashimi is interviewed by Asharaq al-Awsat. He has unkind words for PM al-Maliki:

This man has detonated a crisis with clear political and sectarian dimensions. This man destroyed everything that we pledged to build over the past eight years. It has now become clear to all observers that the man is not a man of political accords. He does not believe in the independence or integrity of the judiciary. He does not want to accept any dissident voice. This is a very major problem. He has placed himself in a critical corner. But this discourse involves clear threats and extortion of the leaders in the Iraqi List. If Al-Maliki completes destroying the leaders of the "Iraqi", he will focus on the Kurdistan Province and precipitate a real confrontation in the future.

War News for Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011-12-31T04:36:00.000-08:00

UK soldier killed in Afghanistan

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, December 30

Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb ripped through a military vehicle Saturday killing two Pakistani soldiers in a village in the restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, a security official said. The remote-controlled bomb planted on a roadside hit a patrol party leading a convoy of security forces at Boya village, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town of troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

#2: A car bomb outside the home of a former lawmaker killed 13 and wounded 30 in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, said Nazir Kurd, a senior police official there. The lawmaker's son, who was the target of the attack, survived the blast, he said. The slain worked for the son, Shafiq Mangal. His father wasn't home at the time of the attack, Kurd said.

#3: Pakistani gunship helicopters attacked a militant hideout near the Afghanistan border in the Razmak area of the North Waziristan tribal region, killing a militant and wounding eight others, security officials said. The death toll could not be independently verified and militants often dispute official accounts.

#4: Pakistani jet fighters bombed militant hideouts in the Jogi area of northwestern Kurram tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, killing 21 militants and wounding several others, local military officials said.

#5: A roadside mine killed four civilians and wounded one in Trinkot city of southern Uruzgan province on Friday, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#6: Afghan forces, backed by NATO-led Coalition troops, have killed 15 armed insurgents and detained 55 other suspects in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said on Saturday morning. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army and international Coalition Forces launched 18 joint operations in Kunar, Nangarhar, Kapisa, Takhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Helmand, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Khost, and Herat provinces over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a press release.

Local Security officials in eastern Kapisal province on Saturday said, at least 8 militants were killed and injured following a cleanup operation in Tagab district by Afghan security forces. Tagab district security chief Gen. Shah Agha said, the operations were conducted by Afghan and NATO troops for the past three days and several regions have been cleared from the militants during the operation. According to Gen. Shah Agha, around 1,000 Afghan and NATO troops had participated in the operation. He also said, at least three militants were killed and five others were injured during the operations.

War News for Fridayy, December 30, 2011

2011-12-30T03:57:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Petty Officer Stacy O. Johnson died from unreported causes in in Bahrain on Monday, July 18th 2011. He is now classified as supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, December 30th.

1981 files hint at Afghan secret war

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, December 30

Reported security incidents
#1: NATO says joint raids with Afghan forces have killed at least three and captured 11 Taliban commanders and facilitators who provided logistical support and weapons to insurgents. Friday’s statement from the coalition says an operation earlier this week in Bakwah district in Farah province resulted in the killing of a senior insurgent leader and two of his commanders, as well as a “number of additional insurgents.”

#2: At least two persons were killed and three others injured in a bomb blast in northwest Pakistan on Friday, officials and witnesses said. The bomb attack targeted members of the pro-government peace force in Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan, they said. The explosive device was detonated through a remote control.

#3: A roadside bomb killed four civilians in Afghanistan's southern province of Uruzgan today, the provincial head of the crime investigation unit said. "Four civilians were killed and one injured when their vehicle hit a Taliban-planted mine in Trinkot city this morning," said Gulab Khan.

#4: Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire at a vehicle in Quetta, capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, killing police surgeon Baqir Shah, local officials said.

#5: A roadside mine killed one policeman and wounded two in Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar province on Thursday, Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq said.

DoD: Sgt. Noah M. Korte

DoD: Spc. Kurt W. Kern

DoD: Pfc. Justin M. Whitmire

DoD: Petty Officer Stacy O. Johnson

MoD: Captain Tom Jennings

DoD: Squadron Leader Anthony Downing

War News for Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011-12-29T03:53:00.000-08:00

The French MoD is reporting the deaths of 2 French ISAF soldiers from small arms fire/gunshot wounds by an Afghan Army soldier in the Tagab Valley, Kapisa province, Afghanistan on Friday, December 29th. The ANA soldier was also killed.

Pakistani death squads go after informants to U.S. drone program

Nato vehicles caused Rs15bn damage to highways

Airstrike kills 35 in southeast Turkey, probe underway

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, December 28

Reported security incidents
#1: A roadside bomb has killed at least 10 police officers in the south-western Afghan province of Helmand, police say. Thursday's explosion destroyed a police truck as it drove through a village in Nad Ali district, officers said. The police were leaving a training centre when their vehicle was hit. The Taliban have said they carried out the attack. Some of those killed were reported to be new recruits. One other policeman was injured by the blast.

#2: At least two Afghan National Police service members were injured in eastern Afghanistan. A spokesman for Afghan National Border Protection Police Forces Edris Momand said, the incident took place around 9 am local time in eastern Nangarhar province. Mr. Momand further added, the explosion took place after a police Ranger vehicle struck with a roadside bomb in Barikab area. He also said, at least two Afghan National Border Protection Police service members were injured in the incident and were taken to provincial hospital for the treatment purposes.

#3: Three suspected Taliban have been killed and four detained as Afghan forces and NATO-led Coalition troops launched a series of military operations around the country, Afghan Interior Ministry said on Thursday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) in collaboration with Afghan army and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops launched three joint operations in Kandahar, Ghazni and Takhar province over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a press release on Thursday morning.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Altmann

War News for Wednesday, December 28, 2011

2011-12-28T03:54:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers as according to the ISAF. They were killed in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, December 27th.

Georgia to send one more battalion to Afghanistan to join ISAF

Mullah Omar no more FBI’s most wanted

NATO routes restorable only on surcharge: Mukhtar

How to Save Iraq From Civil War

5 killed in fresh clash between Iran's security forces, Kurdish PJAK militants: report

Afghan refugees repatriation strategy big mistake: UNHCR

Reported security incidents
#1: A district council chief and his son were shot dead late Tuesday by suspected militants in the southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, a local official said on Wednesday. "Unknown armed men opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle of Abdul Baqi, the district council chief of Musa Qala District, late Tuesday killing Baqi and his son on the spot," a spokesman for provincial government Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua on Wednesday morning. He said Baqi was driving from district headquarters to home when the incident occurred in which his grandson was also seriously injured in the province with Lashkar Gah as its capital, some 555 km south of capital city of Kabul.

#2: Afghanistan Ministry of Defense officials following a press release on Wednesday said, at least two militants were killed and 10 others were arrested following a military operation in eastern Ghazni province. The source further added, the militants were killed and detained in Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province in Afghan National Army operation.

#3: Unknown gunmen assassinated chief of the development council for Nawzad district of southern Helmand province. According to local officials, Abdul Baqi chief of the Nawzad development was killed along with his son and grandson on Tuesday evening while he was on his way to his home. Provincial governor media office officials said, Abdul Baqi and his son was killed on the spot while his grandson died of his wounds in Shorabak military hospital.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Altmann

War News for Tuesday, December 27, 2011

2011-12-27T03:38:00.000-08:00

Iran to export 1 mil mt/year oil products to Afghanistan: report

Pakistan rejects US CENTCOM report on Nato attack

China gets approval for Afghanistan oil exploration bid

Elders warn Nato supplies

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, December 27, Dec 26

Afghanistan to Disband Irregular Police Force Set Up Under NATO

Pakistan Prime Minister Says No Plans to Dismiss Military Chiefs

2 policemen injured in PKK attack in southeast Turkey

Reported security incidents

#1: Afghan forces, backed by NATO-led Coalition troops, have killed six insurgents in a series of military operations around the country over the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Tuesday morning. "During the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces launched seven joint and independent operations in the Kabul, Nangarhar, Logar, Khost, Paktia and Farah provinces," the ministry said in a press release. "As a result of these operations, six armed insurgents were killed and one other was arrested by the ANP," it said.

#2: A NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) airstrike in Ghanikhil district of eastern Nangarhar province killed four insurgents while they were planting a roadside mine on Sunday, Massom Khan Hashimi a senior police detective for Nangarhar province said.

#3: Four militants were killed in an air raid in the eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province Sunday night, a local official said Monday. "Four militants were planting an Improvised Explosive Device ( IED) along a road in Ghani Khil district of Nangarhar province overnight but based on accurate intelligence reports, an aircraft of NATO-led Coalition forces carried out an airstrike killing all militants on the spot," district administration chief Hajji Zualmi told Xinhua.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, a drone belonging to NATO-led International Security Assistance Force on Tuesday made an emergency landing in eastern Paktia province. Paktia provincial governor spokesman Rohullah Samoon confirming the incident said, the emergency landing of the NATO drone took place in Ahmadabad district of eastern Paktia province early Tuesday morning. NATO-led International Security Assistance Force officials also confirmed the incident. Taliban militants group fighting the Afghan government and International coalition forces immediately claimed responsibility behind the incident and said that their fighters are behind the NATO drone crash.

War News for Mondayy, December 26, 2011

2011-12-26T03:07:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, U.K. on Friday, December 23rd. The soldier was wounded in a roadside bombing somewhere south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, December 21st.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, December 25th.

Afghanistan sets ground rules for Taliban talks

US-backed Afghan peace process fails

Suicide Attack Kills 7 in Baghdad - A suicide bomber set off a car bomb at a checkpoint leading to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, killing seven people and injuring 32 others, officials said.

U.S. Prepares for a Curtailed Relationship With Pakistan

Reported security incidents
#1: A GUNMAN wearing an Afghan army uniform has opened fire on coalition troops in western Afghanistan. An official said several NATO troops were wounded in the shooting and the gunman was killed. NATO and Afghan authorities were investigating the attack, which took place on Saturday at an outpost in Bala Boluk district, about 700km west of Kabul, Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. A NATO statement said there were no fatalities among alliance soldiers, but an official, who asked not to be named, said several coalition troops were wounded.

#2: A suicide bomber struck a funeral procession in northern Afghanistan Sunday, killing 19 people and wounding scores more. Among the dead was a member of the national parliament, Abdul Mutaleb Baik, who was said to be a former commander in the Northern Alliance.

#3: According to local officials in southern Afghanistan, a Taliban commander was killed and 3 others were detained following armed clashes in southern Helmand province. Helmand provincial governor media department following a press release on Monday said, the Taliban commander was killed and his 3 other companions were detained after the Taliban militants ambushed the Afghan national police forces in Greshk district of southern Helmand province on Saturday. The source further added, Afghan national police forces were backed by the Afghan national army soldiers during the clashes and there were no reports of the Afghan security forces casualties.

#4: In a separate operation by NATO-led coalition forces, at least two militants were killed and two others were injured in Sangin district of southern Helmand province.

DoD: Spc. Mikayla A. Bragg

News of the Day for Sunday, December 25, 2011

2011-12-25T05:31:00.000-08:00

Reported Security Incidents

Afghan soldier in a gunfight with U.S. troops in Bola Boluk, Farah province, southwest Afghanistan on Christmas eve. The Afghan is killed and there are U.S. soldiers injured, but in line with policy, ISAF has not commented on non-fatal casualties.

Suicide bomb attack on a funeral in Taluqan, Takhar province kills 10 people including Abdul Mutalib, a member of parliament, and injures 39. The hospital says it has received 12 bodies, and other accounts report even higher totals. Security responsibility in Takhar is currently being transferred to the Afghan government.

A member of the Royal Air Force dies in the UK of injuries suffered in a bombing on Thursday. The MoD has not yet released any information about his identity.

A NATO helicopter is shot down by small arms fire in Helmand, but there are no injuries reported.

Fighting is reported overnight in Baghlan province, as foreign troops attacked militants in militants in the Chayabiha area.

Afghan Interior Ministry says NATO and Afghan forces have killed 30 insurgents in various operations around the country, giving no further details. (This is a pretty sorry Reuters Factbox, as that is the only item it contains. -- C)

Other News of the Day

Hamid Karzai says he will not sign a strategic partnership agreement with NATO until night time raids and house searches stop. The agreement, currently being negotiated, will govern relations between Afghanistan and U.S. troops after the scheduled withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014. "Arbitrary operations and home searches have been a serious problem between Nato and Afghanistan for several years," Karzai said in a statement. "This has been one of the main obstacles for signing the Afghanistan-US strategic partnership pact."

Afghan Airlines fears it will not survive a government decision to allow foreign competition.

Iraq Update

Three people killed, 12 injured in a suicide bomb attack on a checkpoint in Dujail, Salah al Din Province.

Former Saddam Hussein regime official Tariq Aziz, currently on death row, has been barred from calling his family, a privilege he was formerly granted when in U.S. custody. His family has complained about this today because he is a Christian.

Iranian armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi says Iran is prepared to expand its military and security ties with Iraq now that U.S. forces have departed. He adds, "I hope the humiliating failure of the United States after nine years of occupying Iraq will serve as a lesson for them to never think of attacking another country."

Tareq Hashemi, currently in exile in Kurdistan, calls the charges against him a plot to destroy PM Maliki's opponents, that threatens to reignite the sectarian civil war of 2005-2007. I find it particularly noteworthy that Jalal Talibani, who is the titular president of Iraq, is personally harboring Hashemi at his guest house in Sulaimaniya. Make of it what you will.

This is a bit complicated, but Iraq refuses to allow trucks carrying cargo from Jordan to Turkey to cross its territory, essentially as a gesture of solidarity with the Syrian regime. Traffic ordinarily transits Syria, but both Jordan and Turkey want to go through Iraq instead as part of the effort to isolate Syria, which reaps some economic benefit from the traffic. Malki's tilt toward the Assad regime angers the Sunni Arab population and further contributes to the sectarian tension.

Turkish commentator Omer Taspinar says Iraq is coming apart:

What is happening on the ground in Iraq looks like a return to the dark years of sectarian war, for which the American invasion is largely to blame. Turkey should pay much more attention to Iraq. It is with some chutzpah that a New York Times editorial advised the Obama administration that “regional allies like Turkey and Saudi Arabia must be enlisted to help send an unmistakable message to Iraqi political leaders that political turmoil or the disintegration of Iraq into sectarian fiefdoms would be disastrous for the country and its neighbors.” As if such a message would change anything!

War News for Saturday, December 24, 2011

2011-12-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. Mikayla A. Bragg died from unreported causes in Khowst province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 21st. News reports that she died of gunshot wounds.

CIA has suspended drone attacks in Pakistan, U.S. officials say

Reported security incidents

#1: A suicide car bomb attack in northwest Pakistan killed six soldiers and wounded about a dozen others on Saturday, police said. The attack took place in Bannu city where the bomber targeted the camp office of the paramilitary Frontier Corps troops, who are deployed in militant-infested North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan. "The bomber drove his explosives-packed vehicle into the FC building," local police official Muhammad Shafiq told AFP.

#2: Officials in ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan on Saturday following a press release said, at least four militants were killed in southern Kandahar province. The source further added, The operations were conducted by Afghan national police forces in conjunction with the other Afghan security forces and NATO-led coalition forces at Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province. The statement also said, at least two other militants were detained during the military operations.

#3: One soldier and four militants were killed in a skirmish between Pakistani forces and militants in the northwestern Kurram tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, security officials said. There was no independent confirmation of the incident and militants often dispute official accounts.

#4: Pakistani fighter jets bombed three militant hideouts in the northwestern Orakzai tribal region, killing 10 militants and wounding another 12, security officials said.

#5: Militants attacked a paramilitary base in the early hours of Friday in the Mulazai area of the northwestern Tank district, killing a soldier and wounding two, security officials said. A senior police official in the area said 15 soldiers had gone missing during the attack. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence, and said the 15 missing soldiers were in its custody.

War News for Friday, December 23, 2011

2011-12-23T03:20:00.000-08:00

Royal Marine killed in Afghanistan on 22 December 2011

Longview soldier killed in Afghanistan -- and not a peep out of NATO or the DoD about this - whisker

Unmanned helicopter makes first delivery for Marines in Afghanistan

Pak suffered most from IEDs losing 2073 security personnel

Two rockets hit Liberty Base in Kirkuk -- General Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq that the two rockets were shot from south west Kirkuk to hit the present Iraqi military base, following US forces withdrawal.

U.S. Report Faults Two Sides in Deadly Pakistan Strike

U.S. deal with Taliban breaks down

Reported security incidents

#1: Militants attacked a paramilitary base in the early hours of Friday in the Mulazai area of the northwestern Tank district, killing a soldier and wounding two, security officials said.

#2: (12/22) One armed insurgent was killed and 28 others arrested in a joint operation of the Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army, National Directorate of Security and coalition forces in areas surrounding Laghman, Loghar and Kabul provinces during the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#3: Unknown armed men in southern Helmand province on Thursday assassinated a member of the Helmand provincial municipal council. According to local officials, the incident took place in Lashkargah city of southern Helmand province. The gunmen managed the flee the area after assassinating the provincial municipal council.

War News for Thursday, December 22, 2011

2011-12-22T03:24:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, December 22nd.

Doc wounded in Iraq speaks out about combat trauma

Afghan in U.S. killings was fired, rehired by Canadians

8 US soldiers charged in death of bullied comrade

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of December 20, 2011

Reported security incidents
Iraq:
Baghdad:
#1: Two roadside bombs went off near a police patrol, killing seven, including three policemen, and wounding 21, in southwestern Amil district

#2: Car bomb in Karrada district killed at least 18 and wounded 44 others.

#3: Roadside bomb near northern Adhamiya district killed one person and wounded five

#4: Roadside bomb in wholesale vegetable market killed one person and wounded six others in northwestern Shula district

#5: Car bomb near market wounded six people in southeastern Ameen district

#6: Two roadside bombs went off in quick succession near police patrols, wounding eight people in northern Shaab district

#7: Car bomb near market killed three people and wounded six in southern Abu Dsheer area

#8: Two roadside bombs went off near a place where day labourers gathered, killing four people and wounding 14 others, in central Alawi area

Jurf al Sakhar:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near a crowd of Sunni Sahwa members, and wounded three fighters in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Mussayab:
#1: Gunmen attacked a Sunni Sahwa checkpoint and wounded two of its members in the town of Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Abu Ghraib:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying a leader of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia killed him when it went off in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said.

Diyala Prv:
#1: A family of five - parents, their two daughters and a son - were gunned down by insurgents in a suburb of the Diyala provincial capital Baquba, north of the capital, early on Thursday, medical and security officials said. The father and son were both members of the anti-Qaeda Sunni tribal militia known as the Sahwa which sided with the US military from late-2006, helping turn the tide of the insurgency.

#2: A gunman carrying a silenced weapon opened fire at a local mayor and wounded him in a market in the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Sararra:
#1: Gunmen in a car opened fire at a police checkpoint and wounded two policemen late on Tuesday in the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said

Kirkuk:
#1: Two sticky bombs attached to two cars carrying a judge and his son killed the judge and his guard and wounded his son and two pedestrians in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:
#1: Three Katusha rockets fell on the Airport of Mosul city, the center of north Iraq's Ninewa Province on Wednesday night, a Ninewa security source reported on Thursday. "Three Katusha rockets fell on Mosul Airport, south of the city, late Wednesday night, causing no serious losses," the security source

Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide bomber was killed by Afghan National Police in Khost province on Wednesday, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#2: Four armed insurgents were killed in a police operation in Helmand province late on Tuesday, the provincial governor's office said in a statement. One civilian was killed by a homemade mine in the same district, it added.

#3: At least eight people were injured when a blast hit Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar on Wednesday night, reported local Urdu TV channel ARY. The blast took place at about 8:20 p.m. local time Wednesday outside a local private hospital in the city. The bomb was planted inside a car parking outside Nasirudin Surgical Hospital on the Dora road in the Gulbahar area of Peshawar, said local media

Pol/MoD: szer. Krystian Banach

Pol/MoD: st.kpr. Piotr Ciesielski

Pol/MoD: st.szer. Łukasz Krawiec

Pol/MoD: st.szer. Marcin Szczurowski

Pol/MoD: st.szer. Marek Tomala

War News for Wednesday, December 21, 2011

2011-12-21T03:40:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the deaths of five ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 21st. News reports that a roadside bombing killed five polish soldiers in Ghazni province

Reported security incidents

#1: Afghan police say they shot dead a would-be suicide bomber before he was able to attack a police station in an eastern province. Youqib Khan, deputy police chief in Khost province, says policemen on Wednesday identified the would-be bomber in front of a bank next to the police station in Khost city and killed him before he could detonate his explosives vest. No one except the would-be bomber was killed, but Khan says a security guard at the bank was wounded.

#2: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, at least four Taliban militants were killed in southern Helmand province. Provincial governor spokesman Mohammad Daud Ahmadi confirming the report said, the Taliban militants were killed following an ambush by Afghan police forces in Adam Khan district of southern Helmand province on Tuesday. He also said, Afghan police forces did not suffer any casualty during the clashes with the Taliban militants.

#3: In the meantime, provincial governor spokesman Mohammad Daud Ahmadi said, an civilian was killed after his vehicle struck with a roadside bomb in the same district on Tuesday. (Helmand province)

#4: Taliban militants claim that they have shot down a US chopper operated by NATO in Afghanistan’s south. According to a spokesman for the militants, the US helicopter was brought down in Zabul Province when it was trying to rescue crew members of another helicopter that had crashed nearby.The militants also say that a number of US soldiers have also been killed in the incidents. The report was yet to be confirmed by Afghan or US officials.

War News for Tuesday, December 20, 2011

2011-12-20T03:24:00.000-08:00

Official: Pakistan sees lull in US drone strikes - The CIA has stopped firing missiles at militants in Pakistan since last month's deadly NATO airstrikes along the Afghan border so as not to "aggravate" already strained ties with Islamabad, the chief of Pakistan's senate defense committee said Tuesday. The 33-day pause is the longest since the program began in 2004, according to the Long War Journal, a website that tracks the strikes.

Iran to expel around 900,000 Afghan refugees

Secret US, Taliban Talks Reach Turning Point

Four rockets fired on US consulate in Kirkuk

Turkish security forces kill 20 PKK members in southeast

Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan security forces and foreign troops killed two insurgents and detained nine during operations in Laghman, Kandahar, Helmand and Ghazni provinces over the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

War News for Monday, December 19, 2011

2011-12-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

Over and out: Soldiers cheer as America closes the gates on Iraq -- The last American soldiers rolled out of Iraq yesterday, bringing a formal end to a bitterly divisive war that has raged for nearly nine years.

Last troops exit Iraq in subdued end to 9-year war

Chomsky: U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement is ‘part of a global program of world militarization’

US spy drone 'tricked' into Iran landing by GPS spoofing

Reported security incidents

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 17 terrorists have been reported killed in an air assault on their secret hideouts in Orakzai Agency, the media reported on Sunday. According to reports, the security agencies launched a robust attack with jet fighters on their hideouts in Jawaki and Samaa areas of Orakzai Agency on Sunday afternoon. Three secret hideouts were demolished and 17 terrorists killed in Sunday's lethal air assault of the security agencies.

#2: Two militants wearing suicide vests opened fire on a bus carrying Afghan army training officers, killing five and wounding nine, the Defence Ministry said. The attackers opened fire on a bus carrying the officers on the main road from Kabul to the eastern city of Jalalabad, the site of NATO and Afghan army bases and several similar attacks. One attacker blew himself up and the other was shot by police before he could detonate his explosives, authorities said.

#3: Three Afghan soldiers and two policemen were killed in an attack by at least three suicide bombers on an army recruitment centre in the northern city of Kunduz, the city's police chief said. The Defence Ministry said four bombers attacked the centre and that two had been killed and the remaining two were trapped inside.

#4: An ISAF air strike killed at least three insurgents in eastern Nangarhar province as they were laying a roadside bomb overnight, ISAF said.

News of the Day for Sunday, January 18, 2011

2011-12-18T05:20:00.000-08:00

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Three civilians injured by an explosion in Talibiya, east of the city.

Judge Mohammed Shaya'a is critically injured in an attack using silenced weapons in West Baghdad late Saturday. Police have made an arrest.

Other News of the Day

ABC's Martha Raddatz is with the last convoy of U.S. troops to leave Iraq. Members of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division based in Fort Hood, Texas, crossed the border into Kuwait in the pre-dawn hours of December 18, 2011, ending the U.S. military presence in the country.

Rania El Gamal, for Reuters, describes the Baghdad the Americans are leaving behind. Excerpt:

Many Iraqis say they believed the U.S. invasion would bring them democracy and prosperity after years of war, economic sanctions and oppression by Saddam's security apparatus. Many say they now feel betrayed.

The U.S. convoys, and the black-masked militiamen who five years ago controlled whole neighborhoods, have left the city's streets. But bombings and killings remain part of everyday life. The city is often blanketed with dust and smoke, its buildings are crumbling and streets are littered with garbage. Blast walls and razor wire erected to protect buildings from bombings still cover the capital.

Iraqis worried about joblessness and insecurity must also contend with an acute water shortage and get only a few hours of electricity a day unless they have their own generators. "They (Americans) brought us a corrupted government that does not reflect what the people want. They are leaving but they left chaos behind ... and the Iraqi people are the ones who suffer," said Abbas Jaber, a government employee.

Just as the U.S. completes its withdrawal, the political crisis between the Shiite-led government and the Sunni bloc deepens. PM al-Maliki calls for the ouster of Sunni deputy PM Saleh al-Mutlak, who called Maliki "worse than Saddam," as the Sunni Iraqiya bloc declares it is boycotting parliament in protest over Maliki's centralization of power, and 10 bodyguards of Vice President Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi have been arrested, accused of terrorism. There are rumors that a warrant has been issued for Hashemi himself. (Excuse me for noticing, but it kind of looks like Iraq's "democracy" is falling apart before our eyes -- but these events are almost entirely ignored in the U.S. This account is from Salam Faraj of AFP. I checked the front pages of the web sites of CNN, MSNBC, ABC and CBS and these events were entirely unmentioned. It was all about the U.S. troops leaving. -- C)

Juan Cole gives an extended overview of the above developments. He says the arrest warrant for Hashemi is confirmed.

Al Jazeera reports on the fears of Iraqis who worked for the U.S. Many have applied for visas to immigrate to the U.S., but few have received them as yet.

Afghanistan News

Grenade attack on a police vehicle in Khost injures 2 police and 18 civilians.

Abdul Baqi Raghbat, a former government official, is assassinated in Kandahar.

Hamid Karzai says he is negotiating with the U.S. for a "long-term" presence. Hoo boy.

NATO forces raid the house of the director of counter-narcotics in Paktia province, Dr Hafizullah. They arrest him and manage to kill one woman and injure two others in the process. No reason for the action is given.

Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul discusses the prospect for peace talks with the Taliban. This will likely occur through a Taliban consular office in a third country (i.e., not Pakistan or Afghanistan).

War News for Saturday, December 17, 2011

2011-12-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen shot at the convoy of Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of Baghdad security operations, and wounded one passerby in the centre of Baghdad, Moussawi said.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two policemen were wounded when gunmen in a speedy car threw a hand grenade at the Iraqi Islamic Party office in the centre of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, local police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three Pakistani soldiers were killed on Saturday after a bomb planted on a roadside exploded in a northwestern tribal area, security officials said. The blast took place at Katasarai village in restive Kurram tribal district bordering Afghanistan where Pakistani army and paramilitary forces have launched an operation against Taliban militants. “Three security personnel including a lieutenant have embraced martyrdom and one other was wounded in an IED (improvised explosive device) blast,” a senior security official told AFP.

In Pakistan's northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan, at least 20 militants and a security personnel were killed and 25 soldiers wounded in a clash on Friday. The militants set off a roadside bomb near a Pakistani army convoy in Khanki area of Upper Orakzai close to the Afghan border. The bombing sparked the clash that killed one soldier and 20 militants, Wajid Khan, a local government official told.

#2: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, at least eight militants including a senior militants commander were killed following a joint military operation in eastern Kunar province. Kunar provincial governor spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi said, the military operations were launched in Suki district on Thursday evening and was completed on Friday evening.

#3: NATO-led forces raided a house of a counternarcotics official in south-eastern Afghanistan, detaining the director and killing a woman, a statement said Saturday. Coalition force raided the house of a Dr Hafizullah (no first name provided), director of the counternarcotics department of Paktia province Saturday morning, detaining him along with his two sons, a statement of the provincial governor office said. The house was raided by NATO-led forces in Gardiz, the provincial capital of Paktia, at 1 am (2030 GMT Friday), it said. 'Hafizullah, along his two sons, have arrested by the combined forces.' The statement also said that a female member of the family was killed, while three other family members were wounded in the raid, conducted in Bala Da area of the city.

#4: Four armed insurgents were killed during operations by the police, Afghan National Army and coalition forces in Kabul, Kunduz, Kandahar, Helmand, and Maidan Wardak provinces in the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

DoD: Maj. Samuel M. Griffith

News of the Day for Friday, December 16, 2011

2011-12-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Site News: Since Whisker can't post today, I thought I'd step in since this is an important day to mark. Soon, the name of this blog will change to Today in Afghanistan. We'll do some other revisions to the site to appropriately reflect the new focus. We will not abandon Iraq, however. I'll provide updates as events warrant. -- Cervantes

Iraq News

U.S. transfers control of its last remaining base to Iraqi forces. Formerly Camp Adder, the Imam Ali base is on the outskirts of Nasiriyah. At one time, it housed 15,000 U.S. soldiers. Now, only 4,000 remain in the entire country. At the end of the year, there will be 157, attached to the U.S. embassy. Note, however, that a substantial contingent will remain in Kuwait. -- C

Ted Rall isn't inclined to give Barack Obama much credit for bringing the U.S. military occupation of Iraq to an end. Excerpt:

Yet the "war on terror" mentality remains in full force.

Obama ordered the construction and expansion of a new concentration camp at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan to house thousands of new and current inmates in the U.S. torture system. Now The New York Times has discovered that the Obama Administration has developed "the other Guantánamo, an archipelago of federal prisons that stretches across the country, hidden away on back roads" inside the United States. Hundreds of Muslim men have been imprisoned by means of the thinnest veneer of legality. . . .

Dexter Filkins called it "the forever war": a post-9/11 syndrome that drives the United States to shoot and bomb the citizens of Muslim nations without end. You can't end a forever war. What if you had to sit down and get serious about taking care of the problems faced by regular, boring, American people? And so Obama is having his ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, release trial balloons about staying past 2014…forever, in so many words. . . .

The Iraq War, at least, seems to be coming to an end. According to the Pentagon, there will only be 150 U.S. troops in Iraq next year--those who guard the embassy in Baghdad. Sort of.

Just shy of 10,000 "contractors"--the heavily-armed mercenaries who became known for randomly shooting civilians from attack helicopters--will remain in Iraq as "support personnel" for the State Department.

Tarak Barkawi considers the outcome of the war, in relation to its real objectives. Excerpt:

At a moment of supreme - if relative - world power, the US invaded Iraq in March 2003 to prevent Saddam Hussein from rising from the ashes of the sanctions regime of the 1990s. The US sought also to supplant a hostile Iraq with a friendly American client. Iraq would be a base from which to exercise US influence and a replacement for the pliant Gulf monarchies, whose stability in the face of al-Qaeda was then far from assured.

For political consumption, and for gullible idealists, these goals were packaged as the threat of WMD and the spread of democracy.

A mere three years later, the most powerful armed forces in human history were facing defeat at the hands of a many-sided ragtag insurgency. Each pinprick attack in Iraq bled popular support from the war in the US, and made the dream of a stable, democratic Iraq seem fantastical. Meanwhile, around the world, US legitimacy lay in tatter: stained with the WMD that never were, the chains of Abu Ghraib and the blood of Fallujah.

Most of all, the US' reputation as the unquestioned superpower was destroyed. The war in Iraq brought an end to the American century.

War's end is difficult for families of the fallen.

What if they ended a war and nobody cared?

The Iraq war's last U.S. casualty. The 4,483rd, and final, combat fatality named is 23-year-old Specialist David Hickman. He was killed by a roadside bomb in Taji on November 14.

War News for Thursday, December 15, 2011

2011-12-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Pvt. Jalfred D. Vaquerano died in Landstuhl, Germany on Tuesday, December 13th. He was wounded from small arms fire in Logar province, Afghanistan on an unreported date.

Panetta formally shuts down US war in Iraq

U.S. Officially Ends Its Mission in Iraq

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A teacher and his son were gravely hurt by a bomb explosion, west of Baghdad, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the explosion was done near one of main Baghdad squares.

Mosul:
#1: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the soldier was killed by unknown armed group east of the city, while he was on duty.

#2: In another incident, a bomb exploded against a federal police patrol, south of Mosul, that led to wounding a woman and a man, who were accidentally near the explosion site.

Tal Afar:
#1: Security sources in Ninewa disclosed the final toll from the twin explosions in Talafar, noting it totaled three dead and 32 wounded, most of whom are civilians. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the twin-car explosions led to heavy casualties.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Police in north-eastern Afghanistan have rescued 11 fellow officers from Taliban-led insurgents and detained 30 rebels, officials said. The raid was launched Wednesday in the district of Warduj, Badakhshan province, said Abdul Maroof Rasakh, a spokesman for the district's governor. The rescued policemen were captured on December 6 in an attack claimed by the Taliban which killed at least two officers, police said.

#2: According to local authorities in western Afghanistan, at least eight Afghan civilians were killed following a roadside bomb explosion in western Faraha province. Farah provincial security chief Ghulam Ghous confirming the incident said, the incident took place on late Wednesday night after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb in Parchaman district of western Farah province, killing at least eight Afghan civilians and injuring three others.

DoD: Sgt. Christopher L. Muniz

DoD: Spc. Ronald H. Wildrick Jr.

DoD: Pvt. Jalfred D. Vaquerano

War News for Wednesday, December 14, 2011

2011-12-14T03:35:00.000-08:00

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." Muntazer al-Zaidi 12-14-08

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. Christopher L. Muniz died in an IED blast in Kunar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, December 11th.

The DoD is reporting another new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. Ronald H. Wildrick Jr. died in an IED blast in Kunar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, December 11th.

Sheriff: Fort Bragg soldier killed wife, himself

NATO: Pakistan talking again to US-led coalition

Iraq Speaker: Keeping 15000 employees at US embassy in Iraq is illogical

Arc of Iraq war told in images

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two police officers and wounded three policemen and two civilians near Baghdad hotel in the center of the Iraqi capital, a police source said.

Diyala Prv:
#1: In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, gunmen with assault rifles shot dead a civilian outside his house near the city of Mqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from Diyala' s operations command anonymously told Xinhua.

#2: Separately, an Iraqi soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb went off near his patrol in the town of al-Nada, some 115 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

Basra:
#1: The Iraqi Oil Ministry says production at the country's largest oil field has been cut in half by bomb attacks on domestic oil pipelines. Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said Wednesday that pumping from southern Iraq's Rumaila field fell after Tuesday night's two explosions to 700,000 barrels per day, down from 1.4 million barrels. He says that Iraq's oil exports were not affected, and that the pipelines should be repaired in about a week.

Ishaqi:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car killed two passengers and wounded three others, on the outskirts of Ishaqi town, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a Christian man and his wife in their car in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bombing has killed a local government official who was prominent in battling drug smuggling and two of his bodyguards in southern Afghanistan. A spokesman for Helmand province, Daoud Ahmadi, says the Reg district chief was returning from a visit to a neighboring district when his vehicle struck the bomb. The chief, Massoud Khan, had been meeting tribal elders and other officials of the Dishu district on efforts to curb drug trafficking, Ahmadi says Wednesday's blast also wounded three other bodyguards who were traveling with Khan.

#2: Afghan forces, backed by NATO-led Coalition troops, have killed three insurgents and detained 22 others in military operations launched over the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday morning. "During the past 24 hours, the Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army (ANA) and Coalition Forces launched 12 joint and independent operations in areas surrounding Kabul, Badakhshan, Kandahar, Helmand, Nimroz, and Khost provinces," the ministry said in a press release.

#3: The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force killed three insurgents and detained four in an airstrike and land operation in Sayed Abad district of Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, on Tuesday, said Wardak police chief Abdul Qayom Baqizada.

#4: A bomb blast in a video shop wounded nine people in the northwestern city of Kohat, police said.

#5: Militants killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded six in an overnight attack on a security post in the northwestern Mohmand region on the Afghan border, a paramilitary force spokesman said.

#6: Gunmen attacked a Sufi shrine and shot dead two of its caretakers on the outskirts of Peshawar, police said.

DoD: Lance Cpl. Christopher P. J. Levy

War News for Tuesday, December 13, 2011

2011-12-13T03:53:00.000-08:00

Note: in about two weeks I’m ending the Iraq portion of this blog and my research and I will focus mainly upon the Afghanistan war. We will change the blogs name but the link should remain the same. – whisker

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Lance Cpl. Christopher P. J. Levy died Saturday, December 10th. He was originally wounded during combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 7th. News reports that he died at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany from small arms fire/gunshot wound to his head.

Four Army aviators killed in JBLM helicopter crash

West Frankfort soldier severely wounded on battlefield

Containers' checking intensified to ensure Nato blockade

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Four civilians have been seriously injured in an attack byunknown gunmen again a shop selling alcohol in central Baghdad on Monday, asecurity source reported on Tuesday. "A groupof unknown gunmen have opened fire using light-weapons on a shop, sellingalcoholic drinks in central Baghdad's Battawin district, seriously wounding 4civilians and escaping for an unknown destination," the security sourcetold Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: In Baghdad, gunmen assassinated two Iraqi Interior Ministry officials in two separate incidents Monday night, Baghdad police officials said.

Abu Ghraib:
#1: An explosion at a police checkpoint in the city of Abu Ghreib, located 20 kilometres east of the capital Baghdad, killed two policemen and one civilian. Five people were also injured in the attack.

Salah a Din Prv:
#1: And another senior officer, Omar Ali, was killed overnight in the northern province of Salahadin. 'A bomb had exploded right outside his house and when the officer went out to check the situation, a second bomb placed in his car exploded, killing him,' the official told dpa.

Mosul:
#1: In the north of the country, senior police officer Iyad Kejika was killed by unknown gunmen near his home, east of Mosul city. A bodyguard was also shot dead.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons and a bomb attacked a minibus carrying judges near a police checkpoint, killing three people, including two policemen and one civilian. Five others were wounded, including three judges and two guards, in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Militants opened fire on villagers Tuesday, killing at least five civilians and wounding another six in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, government officials said. The attack took place in the Shalobar area of Khyber, part of the semi-autonomous tribal belt where the military is fighting homegrown militants led by warlord Mangal Bagh. “Five villagers were killed and six were injured,” Sayed Ahmad Jan, a senior government official in Khyber, told AFP by telephone. “Militants came in a pick-up and fired on the villagers who were standing on the side of the road,” Jan added. An intelligence official in Khyber said villagers were helping the Frontier Corps (FC) dislodge militants, confirming that paramilitary troops had launched a search operation in the area on Tuesday.

#2: Elsewhere in Shalobar, seven people, including two children and three women, were wounded when a mortar shell slammed into their home, Jan said.

#3: A suicide attacker blew himself up in western Afghanistan on Tuesday after police stopped him from gaining access to an airport, a provincial governor said. The suicide bomber was killed but there were no other casualties from the failed attack at the airport in Qala-i-Naw, the provincial capital of Badghis, Dilbar Jan Arman said. 'At around 11am (2.30pm Singapore time), a suicide bomber on foot tried to enter Qala-i-Naw airport, but was stopped by police,' he said.

#4: Afghan and NATO-led Coalition forces have eliminated 18 insurgents and detained 55 others during military operations in different parts of the country over the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. "The Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army, NDS or intelligence agency and International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) forces launched 12 joint operations in areas surrounding Kabul, Kunar, Nangarhar, Helmand, Khost, Uruzgan, Logar, and Ghazni provinces over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a press release providing daily operational updates to media here. "As a result of these operations, 18 armed insurgents were killed, six wounded and 55 others were arrested," the press release said.

#5: Unknown gunmen killed two civilians in the Bati Kot district of eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying and said they killed a policeman and his body guard.

#6: Unknown gunmen killed four civilians and wounded one in Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province, on Monday, said Mahsom Khan Hashimi a senior police detective in the province.

War News for Monday, December 12, 2011

2011-12-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

Blackwater Gets An Even Bigger Makeover

UK troops take on 'Afghan Valley of death'

Local Marine Shot in Head in Afghanistan Dies

Detainee in Iraq Poses a Dilemma as U.S. Exit Nears

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two roadside bombs went off in succession and wounded six people in Ghazaliya District, western Baghdad, police said.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying an official working at the Ministry of Education killed him in Baghdad's northern Shaab district, police said.

#3: Two Iraqi civilians have been seriously injured in an explosive charge blast planted under a taxi in northeastBaghdadon Sunday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge, planted under a taxi, blew up early on Sunday, seriously wounding 2 civilians," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Diyala Prv:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying a school teacher wounded him in the town of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Tuz Khurmmato:
#1: Gunmen shot at a car of a private Iraqi security company, killing one security guard and wounding one on Saturday in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Kirkuk:
#1: Two bombs exploded in quick succession and wounded three policemen and four Kurdish Asaish security officers as they gathered after the first explosion in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

At least 9 persons have been injured in 2 explosions in central Kirkuk early on Sunday, a Kirkuk police source reported. "An explosive charge blew off against a police patrol in central Kirkuk, wounding 2 of its elements, whilst another explosive charge blew up when the security forces arrived to the venue of the first blast, wounding an emergency police officer and 4 Kurdish security men, along with 2 civilians, who were all driven to a hospital for treatment," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency

Mosul:
#1: The Director of Justice Medication in Mosul, the center ofnorthern Iraq's Ninewa Province, has been shot dead by a group of unknowngunmen in front of his house in al-Nour district, east of the city, a Mosulsecurity source reported on Monday. "A groupof unknown gunmen have shot dead the Director of Mosul's Justice Medication,Dr. Samir a-Hamdani, while on his way home after the end of his working hourson Sunday evening," the statement stressed.

#2: Police found the body of a civil servant at a state-run medicine factory shot in the head and chest two hours after he was kidnapped in Mosul, police said.

#3: Gunmen in a speeding car shot dead an off duty traffic policeman in front of his house late on Sunday in eastern Mosul, 390km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan security forces have killed four militants in an operation in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, a local official says. Mohammad Hassan, the provincial official, said on Monday that Afghan forces targeted the militants late on Sunday when they “were planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs)” along a road in Khogyani district to hit security forces, Xinhua reported.

#2: Gunmen attacked NATO oil tankers stranded in southwest Pakistan for the second time in less than a week as Islamabad warned it could enforce its blockade of the U.S. lifeline into Afghanistan for several more weeks. The attackers shot dead a driver and destroyed seven tankers in a blaze of fire late on Dec. 11‚ the second attack in four days in Pakistan’s volatile region of Balochistan‚ rife with separatist and Taliban insurgency.

#3: A total of 14 insurgents were killed and 11 others captured in three different military operations launched by Afghan and NATO-led Coalition forces over the past 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said on Monday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army, NDS or intelligence agency and Coalition Forces launched three joint operations in areas surrounding Kunar and Zabul provinces. Therefore 14 armed insurgents were killed and 11 other suspects were detained by joint forces," the ministry said in a press release.

News of the Day for Sunday, December 11, 2011

2011-12-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

Reported Security Incidents

Mosul

Three women and one man are killed in a home invasion.

Tikrit

Two construction workers killed in armed assault on their company's headquarters.

Kirkuk

Eleven people injured in double bomb attack near a fuel station.

Baghdad

Two civilians are injured in a bombing. That's all the info I can glean from the Kurdish site of Aswat al-Iraq; their English site is still (mysteriously) down, so only headlines are available.

Other News of the Day

Iraq and Iran exchange the remains of dead from the 1980s war. You remember, the one in which the U.S. supported Iraq, including satellite intelligence and protection of Iraqi oil exports, and Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein a gold handled cane.

PM al-Maliki heads to the U.S. to discuss the future of Iraqi-U.S. relations.

AP offers a retrospective on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Excerpt:

In the beginning, it all looked simple: topple Saddam Hussein, destroy his purported weapons of mass destruction and lay the foundation for a pro-Western government in the heart of the Arab world.

Nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives later, the objective now is simply to get out _ and leave behind a country where democracy has at least a chance, where Iran does not dominate and where conditions may not be good but "good enough." Even those modest goals may prove too ambitious after American forces leave and Iraq begins to chart its own course.

David Enders reports for McClatchy that millions of Iraqis are still internally displaced. More than half a million are squatters, who receive no government assistance.

Liz Sly of WaPo discusses the problem I mentioned last week -- that the conflict in Syria is exacerbated sectarian tensions in Iraq. The Shiite-dominated government is solicitous of the Assad regime, over the objections of Sunni Arabs.

Afghanistan Update

Karzai says the death toll from last week's attacks on Ashura ceremonies now stands at 80.

Australia is planning to accelerate the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, aiming to be gone by 2013, a year ahead of the previous schedule.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador is talking about possibly staying after 2014 after all. (Coalition of the stupid?)

Karzai says foreigners are contributing to corruption in Afghanistan. (I can think of a solution for that.

War News for Saturday, December 10, 2011

2011-12-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

Canadian charged in Iraq attack

Buchanan: US committed to withdrawal timeline from Iraq

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen in a car attacked a joint government-backed Sunni militia and Iraqi police checkpoint, killing one militia member and wounding one policeman in Saydiya district of southern Baghdad, police said.

Iskandariya:
#1: Three rockets landed in or near the U.S. military's Kalsu base near Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding three people living near the base, local police said.

Hilla:
#1: Gunmen wearing police uniforms attacked the house of a construction contractor, wounding him and his son north of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Dhukuiya:
#1: Gunmen kidnapped four government employees working at an irrigation project in a farmland east of Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday evening, police said.

Kirkuk:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying an employee at state-run North Oil Company killed him in eastern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying an off-duty Iraqi army officer wounded him in southeastern Kirkuk, police said.

Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a taxi driver in the western part of the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded two policemen when it went off near their patrol in western Mosul, a local police source said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Spokesman for the southern Kandahar province Zalmai Ayubi says the first explosion occurred Saturday morning in Khakrez district, when a four-wheel-drive taxi in a rural area hit a roadside bomb, killing three civilians.

#2: In neighboring Maiwand district, an Afghan man was killed when his motorcycle hit a road mine Saturday morning.

#3: In the north, a government transportation director was killed in an explosion midday Saturday. Police spokesman in Kunduz province Sarwar Hussini says 16 others were wounded when a remote-controlled bomb planted on a bicycle detonated as the official's car was passing.

MoD: Sapper Elijah Bond

War News for Friday, December 09, 2011

2011-12-09T03:30:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth NHS Hospital in Birmingham, UK, on Thursday, December 8th. He was originally wounded in an IED attack in the Deh Adham Khan region of Nahr-e Saraj (North), Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, December 6th.

Pakistan army believes NATO attack planned - reports

U.S. drone shot down by Iran unveiled on TV -- photos

Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen killed a member of a government-backed Sunni militia in front of his house and wounded one of his guards on Thursday in the northern outskirts of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded a tribal leader on Thursday in a town west of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to the car of a government employee at the citizenship department, killed him and his cousin, in a town west of Muqdadiya, on Thursday, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 42 oil tankers and containers were torched by group of armed men on Thursday. The vehicles were carrying fuel and military hardware for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan. The incident was happened in Kharotabad area on Airport Road, suburbs of Quetta. According to the CCPO, Ehsan Mehbob, at least 32 oil tankers and 10 containers were destroyed in the attack. According to the owner of terminal, where the trucks and containers were parked, a group of armed men appeared on motorbikes and fired two rockets hitting oil tankers.

#2: Bombers killed three Pakistani soldiers Friday as firefighters battled to control an inferno at a NATO trucking terminal attacked two weeks after Pakistan shut the Afghan border to US supplies. The roadside bomb exploded alongside a vehicle carrying members of the Rangers paramilitary in Karachi, Pakistan's port city used by the United States to ship the bulk of supplies needed by 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan. The powerful explosion badly damaged the vehicle and wounded four other soldiers in the eastern part of the city after daybreak, officials told AFP.

#3: Gunmen on motorcycles killed Zarteef Afridi, the local coordinator of the non-government Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in the northwestern Khyber tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, local officials said.

#4: Three people including a district police chief were killed and six others were injured Friday when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque during Friday prayer in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province, police said.

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Clark A. Corley Jr.

DoD: Spc. Ryan M. Lumley

DoD: Spc. Thomas J. Mayberry

War News for Thursday, December 08, 2011

2011-12-08T03:20:00.000-08:00

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two mortars landed at the Green Zone in war-battered Iraqi capital city of Baghdad on Thursday's dawn and casualties or damages have not been clear so far. An official of the country's interior ministry confirmed the attack, which could be heard at Xinhua office on the bank of the Tigris River.

Diyala Prv:
#1: An Iraqi policeman was killed and two others were wounded during a sabotage attack on powerlines in the province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. "The electricity supply of 400 megawatts from the Iranian city of Kermanshah to Diyala has been suspended as a result of a sabotage Tuesday that destroyed four towers and cut the line," said electricity ministry spokesman Mussaab al-Mudares. Mudares said the attack took place in the region of Lake Hamrin, some 50 kilometres northeast of Baquba. The collapse of the towers killed one officer and wounded two others.

Jurf al Sakhar:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying an employee at the Ministry of National Security wounded him along with two others in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, about 60 km (40 miles)south of Baghdad, police said. Another police source said only the employee was wounded in the attack.

#2: A roadside bomb went off near the house of a government-backed Sahwa militia leader, and wounded one man in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, police said.

Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen opened fire at a car carrying an off-duty Kurdish peshmerga soldier, killing him on Tuesday in eastern Kirkuk, a local police source said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded a senior official at state-run Iraqi Railways Company, in central Kirkuk, police said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying an employee at the North Oil Company killed him in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:
#1: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that unknown gunmen killed a lawyer, called Nadhim al-Jbouri east of the city, while leaving the court premises.

#2: In another incident, the police found the body of Establishment Protection Force, east of Mosul. The source said that the deseaced had many shots in his body at the head and breat, which was thrown on the side of the street.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen killed a police officer near his house in the city of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two Taliban insurgents including a self-proclaimed district leader were killed in an overnight NATO air strike in Manogai district of eastern Kunar province on Wednesday, said Kunar police chief Ewaz Mohammad Nazari.

War News for Wednesday, December 07, 2011

2011-12-07T03:37:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Sgt. Ryan D. Sharp died Saturday, December 3rd at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany. He was originally wounded from an IED blast in Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Monday, November 21st.

Nato blockade enters 12th day, US reroutes supplies

U.S. military base in Iraq gets new mission

Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb killed a policeman and wounded another in the northestern outskirts of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Kirkuk:
#1: Two mortar rounds landed near a Shi'ite mosque where pilgrims were gathering to commemorate a major religious ritual in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding eight, including a policeman, police said.

Mosul:
#1: A member of the Kurdish security forces was wounded when a roadside bomb targeting his patrol went off near the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Tal Afar:
#1: A Katyusha rocket landed at the Kurdistan Democratic Party headquarters in Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, and wounded one guards, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Twelve people were killed Wednesday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a provincial government spokesman said. “Twelve civilians, among them women and children, were killed today when their van hit in a roadside bomb,” said Daud Ahmadi. He added that the civilians were travelling from provincial capital Lashkar Gah to Sangin district when the blast took place.

#2: Officials in the ministry of defense of Afghanistan following a statement said, at least three militants were killed and 27 other suspects were detained by Afghan security forces following military operations across the country during the past 24 hours. The source further added, the operations were conducted in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces, western Herat province and eastern Paktiya province during the past 24 hours.

#3: The body of a paramilitary soldier kidnapped in August by militants during a cross-border attack on Pakistani troops was found in the northwestern Chitral region near the border with Afghanistan, military officials said.

#4: A small roadside bomb exploded on a bridge in the southern city of Karachi, wounding two people, police officials said.

#5: Militants fired six rocket-propelled grenades from hilltops at buildings in the northwestern town of Hangu, wounding three policemen, police officials said.

#6: Militants fired four RPGs that exploded near a Shi'ite Ashura procession in the town of Kalaya in northwestern Orakzai tribal region, security officials said. There were no casualties.

#7: Twelve militants and two Pakistani soldiers were killed in overnight clashes in the northwestern tribal region of Kurram on the Afghan border, security officials said.

#8: Three security officials with the Afghan intelligence agency were injured Wednesday when a motorcycle bomb went off in the country's southern Uruzgan province, police said. The blast happened at around 01:30 p.m. local time Wednesday in Dihrawud district when a vehicle carrying head of intelligence department of the district namely Ghulam Mohiudin, was passing by, police chief of the district Omar Khan told Xinhua.

DoD: Sgt. Ryan D. Sharp

War News for Tuesday, December 06, 2011

2011-12-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

Reported security incidents

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan officials say 48 people have been killed in a suicide bombing targeting Shiite worshippers marking a holy day in Kabul on Tuesday. The Kabul attacker blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of men, women and children gathered outside the Abul Fazl shrine to commemorate the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. Some men were beating themselves in mourning and food was being distributed. Mohammed Zahir, chief of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Department, gave the death toll and said more than 100 people were wounded. A bomb strapped to a bicycle also exploded as a convoy of Afghan Shiites was driving down the road, shouting slogans for the festival known as Ashoura, in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Four people were killed, officials said.

#2: An explosion rocked Kandahar city in south Afghanistan on Tuesday, injuring five people including three civilians, provincial police chief Abdul Razeq said. "The terrorists planted a bomb in the cavities of a motorbike and detonated in Charso Chowk of Kandahar city at around 01:00 p.m. local time as a result two policemen and three civilians were injured," Razeq told Xinhua.

#3: An explosion hit the Balkh provincial capital Mazar-e-Sharif, 305 km north of Kabul on Tuesday, killing four people and injuring four others, all civilians, police spokesman in the northern region Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said. "The terrorists planted an explosive device inside a handcart and detonated it by remote control killing four people and injuring four others, all are innocent civilians," Ahmadzai told Xinhua.

#4: Two Afghan policemen were killed in an operation in the country's northern relatively peaceful province of Badakhshan, a spokesman for the provincial government said on Tuesday. "Police have launched a cleanup operation on Monday in Aakhsira area of Wardoj district to capture a group of irresponsible armed men who have been challenging peace and stability in the area," Mohammad Maruf Rasikh told Xinhua. "There were sporadic gunfights in the area since the raid was launched yesterday and a number of militants have been killed," Rasikh said. He said two policemen with the Afghan National Police (ANP) have also been killed and three others were injured in the operation, which is still going on Tuesday in the province with Faizabad as its capital, 315 km northeast of Kabul. "Three more ANP forces sustained injuries in the operation," he added.

#5: Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces have killed 12 armed insurgents in southern Helmand province, a spokesman for provincial administration said on Tuesday.

War News for Monday, December 05, 2011

2011-12-05T03:28:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, December 3rd.

US convoys leave Iraq under tribal protection

US vacating air base in Pakistan used by drones

US official says no sign Iran shot down drone

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb killed a Shi'ite pilgrim and wounded nine others late on Sunday in Baghdad's southwestern Bayaa district, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded seven Shi'ite pilgrims late on Sunday in Baghdad's southwestern Amil district, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb went off and wounded five people in Baghdad eastern Camp Sara district, a hospital source said.

#4: Gunmen using silenced weapons wounded Iraqi army Brigadier General Ali Fadhil, and killed his wife, late on Saturday, while he was driving his car though a crossroads in Baghdad's northeastern Ur district, police said.

Latifiyah:
#1: Iraqi officials say a bomb blast has killed two Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad during an important religious ritual for the Muslim sect. Police officials say Monday's attack on Shiite pilgrims in Latifiyah, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the Iraqi capital, also wounded three people. A medical official confirmed the toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the are not authorized to talk to the media.

Gunmen using hand grenades attacked Shi'ite pilgrims marching to the holy city of Kerbala to mark Ashura, a major religious ritual, killing two and wounding four in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Abu Ghraib:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near a joint Iraqi army and police checkpoint, killing one soldier and wounding three soldiers and one policeman in Baghdad's western outskirts of Abu Ghraib, police and hospital sources said. An interior ministry source said four soldiers were killed and two wounded.

Dujail:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to the car of Brigadier Ali Resool of the Federal Police blew up and wounded one of his guards in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. An hour later a bomb was placed outside of Resool's house and seriously injured his son.

Kirkuk:
#1: A bomb went off inside a house, killing two men and wounding one woman in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police sources said. Police said they suspect the victims were manufacturing or moving the bomb when it went off.

Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded three people in southwestern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen in a car shot at another vehicle carrying a police officer, killing him and wounding two of his security guards near the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: Gunman broke into a funeral, killing one man and wounding a woman and a child on Saturday in Mosul, a source in the Nineveh province security operations center said. The attacker was killed by nearby policemen as he tried to escape, the source said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan civilian and a soldier were killed and six civilians were injured Sunday night in a clash took place in country's Kunar province, 185 km east of capital Kabul, an official said on Monday. "So far two killed with a civilian and an army soldier with Afghan National Army and six injured civilians have been admitted to a hospital here in Asadabad," head of a government-run hospital Farooq Sahaq said. The gunfight between Afghan soldiers and suspected Taliban insurgents took place late on Sunday in Nanglam area of restive Manogai district, a witness who has transported the injured men to the hospital told Xinhua. "The clash was going on for more than an hour and there were casualties on Taliban insurgents," the witness named Zabi said.

#2: A total of 20 insurgents were killed and 15 others were captured when Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces launched operations in different parts of the country over the past 24 hours, country's Interior Ministry said on Monday. "During the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces launched nine joint operations in surrounding areas of Kabul, Kunar, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, Khost, and Herat provinces," the ministry said in the statement.

#3: Five Afghan civilians including four children lost their lives as a roadside bomb struck a civilian vehicle in Uruzgan province 370 km south of Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, police said. "The tragic incident happened at around 03:15 p.m. local time today in Chora district as a result five civilians including four children and a woman were martyred," provincial police spokesman Mohammad Farid Aael told Xinhua. Six more people including two children, a woman and three men sustained injuries in the incident, he added.

Civ: Bob McCullough

News of the Day for Sunday, December 4, 2011

2011-12-04T05:17:00.000-08:00

Reported Security Incidents

Note: Aswat al-Iraq in English is currently off-line. Ordinarily they report security incidents which are not reported elsewhere, so we may be missing something.

Baghdad

Roadside bomb attack on a military convoy in Abu Ghraib kills 4 Iraqi soldiers.

Kirkuk

A man and his son are killed when a bomb they are assembling in their home explodes. The man's wife and daughter, and another child, are injured.

Other News of the Day

PM Al-Maliki says that he was the intended target of the car bombing in the Green Zone last week. (I just note that it's interesting, is it not, that even with the U.S. occupation ending and Iraq supposedly entering a normal regime of independence and security, the government offices, and the vast U.S. embassy, are still in The Green Zone, an isolated territory which ordinary citizens cannot enter. -- C)

And speaking of security, The U.S. is paying tribal militias for protection along the road south to Kuwait as its forces withdraw. That would seem to indicate that the Iraqi army and police do not control the countryside, unless I'm missing something -- C

PM Al-Maliki gives an extended interview with AP reporters. Among the highlights, he agrees with the need for reform in Syria, but insists that Assad's regime must remain in power in the interest of stability. He insists that Iraq will chart an independent course in foreign policy but does emphasize friendly relations with Iran. The AP reporters want to spin this as reflecting Shiite dominance of the Iraqi government and its attraction to that side of the sectarian divide in the region. Maliki also says that the departure of U.S. forces will remove a major motivation for violence in Iraq, and he does not fear a return to high levels of sectarian conflict. (We shall see.)

Afghanistan Update

International conference on the future of Afghanistan convenes in Bonn, Germany, but without one essential participant, Pakistan. The boycott by Pakistan is ostensibly because of the recent NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. One hoped-for outcome is the establishment of a Taliban diplomatic office through which peace negotiations can be implemented.

Hami Karzai arrives in Bonn early and gives an interview to Der Spiegel. He says Afghanistan will need international security assistance until 2024.

Afghan Interior Ministry says its forces have killed 42 insurgents and captured 37 others in the past 24 hours in various operations. No corroboration is offered.

Three NATO soldiers are killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday. No further information is available now.

War News for Saturday, December 03, 2011

2011-12-03T04:52:00.000-08:00

Pakistan changes rules of engagement in wake of NATO attack

British soldier fired for stabbing Afghan boy -- Grenadier Guardsman Daniel Crook jailed and dismissed from the army after bayoneting boy, 10, in kidneys for no reason

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a Shi'ite procession, wounded seven people, including two policemen, in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad on Friday evening, police said.

Diyala Prv:
#1: Two bombs planted near a policeman's house wounded three members of his family in central Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Iskandariya:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed three people, including a father and his son, when it went off near their vehicle in a farmland near the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Kirkuk:
#1: At least one person was killed and 12 others were wounded when three roadside bombs exploded in quick succession in southeastern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad on Friday evening, police said.

Mosul:
#1: Gunmen broke into a house and killed two men in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: Gunmen in a car killed one person in western Mosul, a local police source said.

#3: A gunman was killed in a fire exchange with the Iraqi army after he resisted arrest in northern Mosul, police said.

Zakho:
#1: Thirty people including 20 policemen were reported injured in the rampage, which followed Friday midday prayers in the town of Zakho, some 300 miles (475 kilometres) northwest of Baghdad. Zakho lies within the territory controlled by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government. Some 30 liquor stores, four hotels, and a massage parlour in and around the city near the Turkish border were ransacked, set on fire or otherwise damaged, they said. Angry crowds then attacked offices belonging to a Kurdistan-based Islamist party in retaliation, officials said. Six headquarters of the Kurdistan Islamic Union in and around Zakho, and in the nearby city of Dohuk, were set on fire or otherwise assaulted, said Zakho police officer Ahmed Doski.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Officials in the ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan following a statement on Saturday said, at least 6 militants were killed and 6 others were injured following an operation by Afghan national police forces during the past 24 hours. The statement further added, the operations were conducted by Afghan national police forces in Takhar, Kandahar and Herat provinces during the past 24 hours. The statement did not disclose further information regarding the casualties of Afghan security forces during the operations.

#2: "An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which was placed by enemies of peace and stability on a bicycle exploded in Shahjoy district of Zabul province at 11:00 a.m. local time Friday. As a result of the blast, 10 people were wounded including eight civilians," the ministry said in a statement.

#3: In an unrelated incident, Taliban insurgents opened fire on a vehicle in neighboring Kandahar province, killing a civilian and injuring his wife. A statement released by the Kandahar provincial government on Saturday said the incident occurred in Zhari district on Friday afternoon.

#4: Seven Afghan militants were killed and five Pakistani security forces injured in a cross-border skirmish Friday, officials said. It was the latest in a series of recent cross-border assaults from Afghanistan's Pech Valley and the provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, all areas from which U.S. troops began pulling out earlier this year as part of a strategy designed to bolster security in more populated areas of Afghanistan. The Pakistani forces returned fired into Afghanistan, killing seven militants, Jadoon said.

#5: Helicopter gunships attacked militants' hideouts in the northwestern tribal region of Orakzai, killling around a dozen insurgents, local security officials said. Five hideouts were destroyed, they said. There was no independent confirmation of the death toll and militants often dispute official figures.

#6: Afghan police and army have eliminated 10 insurgents and captured 16 other suspects in a military operation which concluded on Saturday in the country's western Herat province, provincial police chief said. "Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan army concluded today a cleanup operation after clearing up insurgent fighters in Pashtun Zarghun, Obe, Guzara, and Chishti Sharif districts," Sayed Agha Saqib told reporters in a press briefing here. He said joint forces have killed 10 insurgents and captured 16 suspected armed men besides injuring five armed insurgents and seizing several weapon caches during the raids that was launched nearly one month ago in the province 640 km west of capital city of Kabul.

War News for Friday, December 02, 2011

2011-12-02T03:10:00.000-08:00

Senate approves $662 billion defense bill

Ceremony marks end of US warfare in Iraq - Make sure that your stomach is empty before reading this bunch of BS. – whisker

Pakistan planes would have engaged NATO in attack

Dipton soldier killed in armoured vehicle missing spare part

Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: update Gunmen using silenced weapons stormed three houses of Sahwa militiamen, killing eight members of two families and wounding five members of a third family in Buhriz, about 60 km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

Hilla:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting departing U.S troops blew up and killed a civilian on the southern outskirts of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, two police sources said.

Hashimiya: (?)
#1: Police said they found the bodies of two men who had been handcuffed, burned and shot in Hashimiya, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad.

Taji:
#1: Seven policemen were wounded when one of three roadside bombs they were trying to defuse went off in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Iraq's minister of environment escaped an assassination attempt by a roadside bomb that blew up when his convoy was passing. It wounded four people including one of the minister's guards in Taji, police said.

Tuz Khurmato:
#1: One policeman was killed and five wounded, including four policemen in two roadside bombs in Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Shirqat:
#1: Gunmen attacked a check point manned by government backed Sunni militia's fighters of Sahwa killing three fighters and wounding two late on Thursday in Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Police said they found the beheaded body of Sheikh Thalaj Zaalan on the western outskirts of Haditha, 190 km (120 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A powerful suicide truck bomb exploded near the entrance to a NATO base on Friday, injuring as many as 70 people, mainly civilians, south of the Afghan capital Kabul, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Muhammad Agha district of Logar province which took place at around 8:00am (0330 GMT) Friday. "The suicide attacker wanted to ram his explosive-laden vehicle into the coalition forces base but he was stopped at the gate and detonated the truck outside the base," he said. He put the provisional toll of those injured at five -- three police and two NDS (Afghan intelligence) personnel --adding that some houses had been destroyed by the blast. A spokesman for NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed a car bombing in the district but said they were still "gathering information". He could not confirm that ISAF was the target or the number of casualties.

#2: Unidentified miscreants detonated an improvised explosive devise (IED) with a remote control outside District Coordination Officer's (DCO) office on Thursday, however, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. A wall of the office building collapsed after the blast, which was heard throughout Peshawar, the last major city on the route to Afghanistan. According to police, the explosion damaged the outer wall of the office located at Bacha Khan Chowk on Charsadda Road. The windowpanes of the building were smashed and the blast was heard throughout Peshawar. The police cordoned off the area and started a search operation. Police was already put on high alert due to Muharram. According to the Bomb Disposal Squad, it was a locally manufactured time device and was meant to create terror among the residents.

#3: Five people including three civilians were injured in a bomb blast in Dehrawad district in Uruzgan province 370 km south of Afghan capital city Kabul on Friday, police said. "The blast happened at 10:30 a.m. local time in a cattle bazaar of Dehrawad district today as a result five people including three civilians and two local police were injured," police spokesman in Trinkot city Mohammad Farid Aael told Xinhua. "It appeared to be a remote-controlled bomb blast"he said, adding that investigation is underway to identify the exact reason for the blast and those behind the subversive activities.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Vincent J. Bell

War News for Thursday, December 01, 2011

2011-12-01T03:08:00.000-08:00

Newlywed soldier from Bury shot and killed in Kenya training accident

Nato ignored warnings, top army official says

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Four Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast in west Baghdad's Aadamiya district on Thursday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge, planted close to the Royal Graveyard in west Baghdad's Aadamiya district, blew off on Thursday, wounding 4 civilians and causing damage for a number of a civilian cars, close to the venue of the blast," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Diyala Prv:
#1: Iraqi officials say a car bomb has killed 10 people and injured more than 20 in a town northeast of Baghdad. Authorities immediately imposed a curfew in the town of Khalis, in Diyala Province. Police said the car bomb exploded in a marketplace as shoppers were starting to arrive.

#2: Also in Diyala, gunmen stormed the home of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni fighter at dawn and killed seven people, police said. The victims of the attack in the town of Buhriz about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad included the local leader of the pro-government Sahwa or Awakening Councils movement and six members of his family, four of whom were women. Faris al-Azawi, the spokesman of Diyala's health directorate, confirmed the death tolls in both Khalis and Buhriz.

#3: A parked car bomb exploded near a Shi'ite procession, wounding seven people, in Balad Ruz, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a source in the Diyala province security operations centre said.

Taji:
#1: Two Army men and 2 policemen have been injured in an explosive charge blast against their joint patrol in west Baghdad's Taji district on Thursday, a Baghdad security source reported. "An explosive charge blew off in north Baghdad's Taji district against a joint Iraqi Army and Police patrol, wounding 4 of its elements," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Mosul:
#1: A militant was killed when a roadside bomb he was planting exploded in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a source in the Nineveh province security operations centre said.

#2: Police found the skeleton of a civilian who was kidnapped in 2008 and shot in the head, in an area west of Mosul, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two Pakistanis were allegedly gunned down by NATO forces in the Bibijan area of Afghanistan, which borders the Chagai district of Balochistan. Balochistan Levies confirmed the incident and said that the that two men had been shot dead in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on Thursday morning. “The two men went to visit their relatives living inside Afghanistan from Chagai, when NATO forces opened fire on them, killing both instantly,” relatives told local journalists.

#3: Afghan officials say three policemen died and four others were wounded in an explosion in northeast Afghanistan. Kamen Khan, a police official in Baghlan district of Baghlan province, says all seven were riding in an Afghan National Police vehicle on Thursday morning when it hit a roadside mine.

#4: On Tuesday in a neighboring district, (Baghlan province) two German troops were wounded when their vehicle ran over a roadside bomb.

#5: Seven Pakistani engineers have been kidnapped in an area near Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul, Afghan police said, Press TV reports. Unknown gunmen attacked a minivan carrying the Pakistani engineers, when they were going home from work on Wednesday. The abductees were assigned to a hospital construction project in Pol-e-Alam, the capital of eastern province of Logar. Their driver was forced out of the car and all were taken away to an unknown location, Logar police chief Ghulam Sakhi Roghliwani said.

#6: A bomb exploded near the office of a regional government official in the often restive northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar early on Thursday, police officials said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. A wall of the district coordination officer's building collapsed after the blast, which was heard throughout Peshawar

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Dennis R. Murray

War News for Wednesday, November 30, 2011

2011-11-30T03:31:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 30th.

US preparing to vacate Shamsi airbase

13,000 U.S. Troops Remain in Iraq As Drawdown Continues

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A senior official in the oil ministry was seriously wounded when men armed with silenced weapons opened fire on his car in Baghdad's west-central district of Mansour, police and hospital sources said.

Samarra:
#1: Two women were among five people killed in an attack on the home of a Muslim cleric in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, police said Wednesday, pointing the finger at loyalists of Al Qaeda. ‘Five people, two of them women, were killed around 10 pm (1900 GMT) on Tuesday,’ a Samarra police commander said. ‘Armed men attacked the home of Shaikh Khalid Al Naisani, killing him, his wife, their 17-year-old son and two other people who were at his house,’ the commander said.

Kirkuk:
#1: One of the cadres of northern Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has been killed in a sticking bomb that blew up under his car south of the city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, a Kirkuk Province's Police source reported. "An explosive charge, stuck under a car, belonging to a PUK cadre in Kirkuk, blew off in Kirkuk's Military district on Wednesday, killing him on the spot and causing severe damage for his car," the Police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.

Mosul:
#1: At least four people were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a cop was killed and two injured in bomb blast against their patrol, 70 km south of Mosul city.

#3: On the other hand, an Iraqi soldier was wounded when he was shot, west of Mosul.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Officials in the ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan following a statement on Wednesday said, at least three Taliban militants were killed following a joint military operations by Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force across the country during the past 24 hours. The statement further added, the operations were conducted in southern Kandahar, Eastern Khost and Western Herat province by Afghan and coalition forces. The officials also said, at least 3 Taliban militants were killed and three others were injured while 14 militants were detained by Afghan and coalition forces during the operations.

#2: A bomb blast that ripped through a funeral prayer of a local tribesman in South Waziristan Agency bordering Afghanistan killed two and wounded another three, said official sources. A large number of tribesmen were offering the funeral prayer of a local tribesman on Shakai road in the agency when a remote-controlled bomb exploded with a big bang, killing two and injuring three others.

#3: A would-be suicide bomber was killed near Kuchlak, in the suburbs of Quetta, on Tuesday when an explosive that he was carrying detonated prematurely. “The bomber had hired a cab and wanted to go to Chaman (a bordering town with Afghanistan) with the intention of targeting someone, but the explosives he had fixed to his body prematurely went off,” SP Malik Arshid told reporters, while confirming that the man was a suicide bomber.

#4: Five people, including two policemen, were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police patrol in the northwestern city of Bannu, police said. Bannu is close to North Waziristan, a major sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border.

War News for Tuesday, November 29, 2011

2011-11-29T03:29:00.000-08:00

Militants Turn to Death Squads in Afghanistan

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol and wounded four people, including three policemen, in Baghdad's northern Shaab district, police and hospital sources said.

#2: Two civilians were killed and four wounded in a sticky bomb blast planted inside a private car to the west of Baghdad, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb exploded in Mansour area, close to the Baghdad International Fair, which led to the casualties.

#3: Media sources at the Iraqi parliament announced today that an explosion hit the entrance of the parliament , with possibility of several casualties, at the end of Mayer of Baghdad questioning session. Different opinions on the explosion, some said it was a bombed car, while others reported that it was a mortar shell fell in the garage. Kurdish Alliance spokesman was gravely wounded in his leg, in addition to a Peshmerga guard.

#4: "A group of unknown armed men have opened fire from guns, fixed with silencers, on a Director-General in Iraqi Oil Ministry, close to the Hunting Club in west Baghdad's al-Mansour district, causing him several injuries," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Mahmudiya:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to the car of a local leader of the government-backed Sahwa militia exploded, seriously wounding him, in the town of Mahmudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

#2: In southern Baghdad's Mahmoudiya area, the security source reported that "an explosive charge blew off close to a filling station on the main road passing through the township, wounding 5 persons, who were driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Hit:
#1: A parked truck bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol and wounded three people, including two soldiers, in the city of Hit, about 130 km (80 miles) west of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Tarmiya:
#1: Gunmen threw hand grenades at a Sahwa militia patrol and wounded five people, including two Sahwa fighters, in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Kirkuk:
#1: At least one civilian was killed and 15 people wounded, including five policemen, when three roadside bombs exploded late on Monday near a Turkman provincial council member's house in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded two others in the village of Shura, south of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: Gunmen wounded an off-duty policeman in western Mosul, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: US-led forces have killed five Afghan civilians in separate attacks in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar and southern province of Kandahar, Press TV reports. NATO helicopters on Monday fired four rockets into houses in Zhari district of Kandahar, killing three women and injuring two men, said Zalmai Ayoubi, the provincial governor's spokesman, on Tuesday. The Afghan official added that the US-led alliance had confirmed the attack.

Three women and two children were killed in the Zhari district of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, on Sunday during a rocket attack by the International Security Assistance Force, the Zalmai Ayobi, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor, said. ISAF said it could not confirm the deaths but was aware of an incident and was investigating further.

#2: In another attack on Tuesday, US-led forces raided a house in Surkh Rod district of the Nangarhar province and killed two brothers. NATO said in a statement that its forces carried out the operation in collaboration with Afghan forces. It claimed that the fatalities were “militants,” although locals have rejected the claim.

#3: Security forces backed by NATO-led troops during a night raid in Surkhrod district of Nangarhar province 120 km east of Afghan capital city Kabul eliminated two suspected insurgents and detained two others early Tuesday, spokesman of provincial administration Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said. "The operation conducted in Dand village of Surkhrod district in the wee hours of today during which two suspected insurgents were killed," Abdulzai told Xinhua. The troops also captured two others, he further said, adding investigation would be initiated to determine if the victims were insurgents or civilians.

#4: Afghan security forces killed two insurgents in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province on Monday, the Helmand governor said in a statement.

#5: Insurgents killed a local deputy council in the Jaghato district of Wardak province on Monday, the Wardak governor said in a statement.

#6: A roadside mine in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province killed three policemen on Monday, Mohmmad Hassan, a police detective for Ghazni said.

#7: An Afghan civilian was killed and three others injured when a bomb went off in Laghman province with Mehtarlam as its capital, 90 km east of capital city of Kabul, police said on Tuesday. "A roadside bomb blasted Monday night in Baba Dashti area in vicinity of provincial capital Mehtarlam, leaving a person walking by dead and injuring three others," deputy to provincial police chief Daud Barakzai told Xinhua.

DoD: Cpl. Adam J. Buyes

MoD: Rifleman Sheldon Lee Jordan Steel

War News for Monday, November 28, 2011

2011-11-28T03:27:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED blast in the Babaji area of the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, November 27th. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier during combat operations in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, November 26th.

Pakistan permanently closes borders to Nato after air strike

300 trucks carry supplies to Nato from city daily

Rogue Afghan soldier 'on the run for 10 years'

In Fog of War, Rift Widens Between U.S. and Pakistan

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A civilian killed and two wounded in a bomb blast this evening west of Baghdad , police sources said here. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a bomb exploded on the highway to Abu Ghraib, west Baghdad , which led to the killing of the civilian and wounding two, including a woman.

#2: An explosive charge blew against a car, driven by an Iraqi Army officer in northern Baghdad's Abu-Ghuraib district on Sunday, killing on the spot, an security source reported. "The officer, from west Iraq's Falluja township, with a major rank, had been victim of an explosive charge explosion, while leaving west Baghdad's Green Zone, killing and causing damage for his car," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news.

Taji:
#1: A suicide bomber slammed a car packed with explosives into the gate of a prison north of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 19 people, Iraqi officials said. The bombing in the town of Taji, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of the capital. A police officer said the attacker struck the main gate of al-Hout prison at 8:00 a.m. local time, when many employees and guards were on their way to work. Ten policemen were among the dead and the rest were civilians, he added. At least 22 people were wounded.

Tuz Khurmato:
#1: A roadside bomb blew up and wounded two people in central Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Shirqat:
#1: A bomb exploded at a location frequently used by police as a temporary security checkpoint, killing a policeman and wounding another, in central Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:
#1: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that an Iraqi soldier killed today noon by bomb blast directed against a military patrol in Owainat village, northwest Mosul .

#2: On the other hand, the source added that unknown gunmen killed an owner of a small restaurant in mid Mosul. They shot him inside his restaurant and fled away.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, at least 10 Taliban militants were killed following a joint military operation in southern Kandahar province. Media Department of 205 Atal Afghan national army commandment following a statement said, the operations were conducted by Afghan and NATO-led international coalition forces in Maiwand district of southern Kandahar province.

#2: Insurgents killed two Afghan army soldiers in the Bala Murghab district of western Badghis province on Sunday, Ghulam Nabi, a police detective for Bala Murghab, said.

News of the Day for Sunday, November 27, 2011

2011-11-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Reported Security Incidents

Baqouba

Two men from one family are killed, another injured, in an armed attack. The dead were "an official in interior intelligence" and an engineer. They are said to have recently returned to the area after living elsewhere.

Baghdad

Gunmen using silenced weapons kill a civil defense major and his wife. Their daughter is injured.

This appears to be a separate description of the same incident, but it's possible there were two similar attacks. (This seems to be the pattern for today.)

Kirkuk

A Kurdistan security officer and his wife are injured in a bomb attack on their house.

Other News of the Day

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey says the U.S. will spend more than $6 billion in Iraq next year. It will all come back, however, in the form of $8 billion in weapons sales, not counting the sale of F-16s which has not been finalized but which will be several billion more. The U.S. will also maintain the largest diplomatic presence in the world, with more than 16,000 people. (This story doesn't point it out, but while only a few hundred U.S. military will be in Iraq, as trainers associated with specific weapons sales, the 16,000 personnel includes thousands of mercenaries. -- C)

Reporter for CSM Scott Peterson contemplates the U.S. army driving across the desert to Kuwait. It seems a Col. Scott Efflandt is worried. "What we worry about is a disproportional attack that taints the overall accomplishments." Uh huh.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says it is "not possible" to impose sanctions on Syria, although it is not clear if he is speaking solely about Iraq or whether Iraq will oppose a proposal for sanctions by the Arab League. He cites economic ties between the two countries and the numerous Iraqi refugees in Syria. Note that this issue has sectarian overtones in Iraq. Iraq's Sunni Arabs see the Syrian government, which is based in the minority Shiite Alawite sect, as oppressive. Many have family and clan ties with Syrian Sunnis who are in revolt. The Iraqi government's tilt toward the Assad regime is therefore unpopular with Iraqi Sunni Arabs. -- C)

Afghanistan Update

ISAF says one NATO is killed in combat operations in the east, another by a roadside bomb in the south. As usual no further details are given immediately.

Fallout over the NATO air strike inside Pakistan that killed 24 (or 28) Pakistani soldiers continues, as Pakistan demands that Afghanistan no longer allow NATO to launch operations against Pakistani territory from Afghanistan. As has been previously reported, Pakistan has ordered the U.S. to evacuate Shamsi air base, believed to be a base for CIA drones, and has ordered supply lines from Pakistan to Afghanistan closed. (Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the current president of the United States does know the name of the president of U-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, because the only way to supply NATO forces in Afghanistan will now be through Uzbekistan. I point this out because bizarrely, an ad for Herman Cain appeared alongside this story. -- C)

As trucks once bound for Afghanistan back up at the border, their drivers fear attacks by militants.

Pakistan is considering boycotting an upcoming summit in Bonn in early December on the future of Afghanistan, in light of the NATO attack. As the Pakistani soldiers are buried, TV carries endless images of the funeral, accompanied by martial music. Although details of the incident are murky, The Guardian reports "The Pakistani military alleged that the attack 1.5 miles inside Pakistani territory in the early hours of Saturday was deliberate, as it was a well-known position manned by regular troops. US officials have suggested the NATO force was acting in self-defence." Either allegation would evidently mean that one side or the other committed an act of war, for unstated reasons. -- C

PTI reporter Rezaul H Laskar conveys the view from Islamabad, where Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has called Secretary Clinton to protest vehemently. She also tells Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey that these were "unprovoked and totally unacceptable attacks by NATO/ISAF which demonstrated complete disregard for international law and human life."

In breaking news as I write, AP reports that Afghan soldiers called in the air strikes after they were attacked from across the border. I'm sure we'll be hearing a good deal more about this.

War News for Saturday, November 26, 2011

2011-11-26T03:15:00.000-08:00

Bush and Blair found guilty of war crimes for Iraq attack - tribunal in Malaysia, spearheaded by that nation’s former Prime Minister, yesterday found George Bush and Tony Blair guilty of “crimes against peace” and other war crimes for their 2003 aggressive attack on Iraq, as well as fabricating pretexts used to justify the attack. The seven-member Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal — which featured an American law professor as one of its chief prosecutors — has no formal enforcement power...

Nato Convoys Cut After Pakistani Troops Die

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Hours later, three bombs exploded near the kiosks of vendors selling CDs and military uniforms in central Baghdad, killing three people and wounding eight others.

#2: Director General of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Culture escaped death by an assassination attempt, a ministry spokesman said here today. The spokesman told Aswat al-Iraq that Nawfal abu-Righeef escaped death from the assassination attempt in Abu Nuwas street by guns equipped with silencers. He was not hurt, but one of his body guards was wounded.

#3: An Iraqi traffic police officer has been injured and his daughter was killed in an armed attack by unknown gunmen south of Baghdad on Friday night, a police source reported on Saturday. "A group of unknown gunmen have opened fire from guns, fixed with silencers, against Traffic Police Colonel, Mohammed Hani, who was driving his car with his family in southern Baghdad's Daura district, wounding him and killing his daughter, whilst the armed men escaped to an unknown desination," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Al anbar prv:
#1: The first two bombs were planted in the early morning in a spot where day laborers gather in the mostly Sunni village of al-Zaidan, near the town of Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad. They killed seven people and wounded 11 others, the officials said.

Six people were killed and eight wounded when a roadside bomb exploded and hit a small truck carrying workers in the western outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday, police and medical sources said. "It was a roadside bomb that went off near a pick-up carrying construction workers in Zobaa village west of Abu Ghraib," said a police source who asked not to be named. A medical source at the nearby hospital in Falluja said they had received six dead bodies and eight wounded.

#2: Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped a policeman and his son in front of their house near the town of Qaim, 300 km (185 miles) west of Baghdad, local police said.

#3: Security sources reported today that an armed group attacked a military check point south of Fallouja city. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the attack resulted in killing one soldier and wounding three in Amiriya area, 21 km south of Fallouja.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: NATO helicopters attacked a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing up to 28 troops and prompting Pakistan to shut the vital supply route for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said. Two military officials said that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the Salala checkpoint, about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the Afghan border. The attack took place around 2 am (2100 GMT) in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.

#2: A car bomb exploded near a convoy of troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force on Friday in Lashkar Gah, southern Helmand province, ISAF said in a statement. No casualties were reported and the targeted vehicle remained roadworthy, the statement added.

#3: Afghan and foreign troops killed 13 insurgents during joint operations in areas near the capital Kabul, southern Helmand and Uruzgan provinces and western Herat province in the last 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#4: Gunmen killed two Afghan police officers in Gereshk district of Helmand province on Friday, said Shadi Khan, the district police chief.

#5: Two missiles fired by a U.S. drone aircraft struck a vehicle near Miranshah, the main town of Pakistan's North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, killing at least three militants, intelligence officials in the region said. There was no independent confirmation of the incident, and militant groups often dispute official death tolls.

War News for Friday, November 25, 2011

2011-11-25T03:10:00.000-08:00

CIA marks death of spy with a rare request - a total of 23 stars have been added to the wall at the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters that honors CIA operatives lost.

Up to 763 contractors to train Iraqi forces: US - A maximum of 763 civilian contractors and 157 US military personnel will train Iraqi security forces post-2011, if the Iraqi government gives its approval, a US officer said on Wednesday.

Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a village mayor at a market in Jalawla, 115 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a source in the Baquba security operations centre said.

Mussayab:
#1: Three bombs went off at the house of a member of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia in the village of Bahbahan, near the city of Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. A local police source said no casualties were reported. Another police source said two men were inside the house and were wounded in the explosions.

Basra:
#1: Three bombs exploded Thursday in the south Iraq port city of Basra, killing 19 people including high-ranking army and police officers, and wounding at least 65, security and medical officials said. A roadside bomb and a motor-cycle bomb exploded simultaneously at about 6: 40 p.m. in a market in central Basra, an Interior Ministry official said. Following a common pattern in Iraq, a third roadside bomb went off as people gathered at the scene, according to the official, who put toll at 19 killed and 67 wounded. An army brigade commander and a high-ranking police officer were among the dead, while police and soldiers were also wounded in the blasts, the official said.

The toll from yesterday's blast in Basra has reached 50 dead more than 50 wounded, according to security sources.

Baaj:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was killed and an officer wounded when clashes erupted between insurgents and an army patrol in Baaj, 375 km (235 miles) northwest of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Mosul:
#1: Gunmen opened fire at an Iraqi army checkpoint and killed one soldier in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a government electricity department worker in the village of Shura, south of Mosul, a local police source said.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen kidnapped an off-duty policeman and his son from their car in northeastern Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A bomb exploded in a crowded market and wounded five people in Ramadi, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into an air attack by NATO forces in southern Afghanistan that killed six children and one adult, his office said on Thursday.

NATO forces were chasing five men they had spotted planting homemade roadside bombs in Zhari district of southern Kandahar province, said Zalmai Ayobi, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor. An airstrike killed one of them but four fled into a nearby village, and NATO forces attacked them from the air. Seven civilians including women and children were killed, Ayobi added. Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, the Zhari district chief, said six of the dead were children, and another two girls were also wounded, according to a statement from Karzai's office.

#2: Pakistani troops assaulted militant strongholds in the northwestern tribal region of Kurram on Friday around midnight, killing 35 militants and wounding 10 more, security officials said. Four soldiers were also killed in the firefight, which lasted several hours. Militant sources confirmed the clashes and casualties but disputed the government's death toll.

#3: An International Security Assistance Force helicopter made a precautionary landing in eastern Afghanistan Thursday.

ISAF is still in the process of assessing the circumstances to determine more facts; however, initial reporting indicates that there was no enemy activity in the area. All crew members have recovered with no reported injuries.

War News for Thursday, November 24, 2011

2011-11-24T04:37:00.000-08:00

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Cpl. Zachary C. Reiff died in a hospital in Germany on Monday, November 21st. He was wounded in a roadside bombing in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, November 18th.

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least 3 persons have been injured in an explosive charge blast against an Army patol in front of the Sunni Waqf (Endowment) Office northwest of Baghdad on Thursday, whilst an attempt to assassinate a traffic police officer failed in northwest Baghdad's Amiriya district and a woman was killed in central Baghdad's Karrada district, all on Thursday morning, a security source reported.

#2: In another security incident, a Security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency said that "a group of unknown gunmen tried to assassinate Major Ali Abdul-Saheb with guns, fixed with silencers, in al-Amal al-Shaabi Street in northwest Baghdad's Amiriya district, who was driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

#3: Meanwhile, west Baghdad had witnessed a group of armed men, disguised behind police uniform, attacked a flat in an apartment building, killing a woman and wounding another woman, followed by robbing all the valuables of their flat.

Hawija:
#1: Militants attacked with car bombs and mortars near the police headquarters and government buildings in the town of Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, wounding nine people including two soldiers and a policeman, police and hospital sources said. Two suicide car bombers died in the explosions and two insurgents were killed by police when they tried to attack the police headquarters, the sources said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban fighters have attacked a NATO convoy in western Afghanistan, killing at least 10 private security guards and injuring several, officials say. A government spokesman told Al Jazeera that the NATO logistics convoy came under attack in Farah province on Thursday. At least ten vehicles were set on fire.

#2: A bomb attack in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Agency has destroyed one NATO oil tanker carrying fuel for US-led foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Officials told Press TV that a NATO oil tanker hit a planted explosive device near Michni check post area on Peshawar-Torkham road of Landi Kotal tehsil late Wednesday. The oil tanker was completely damaged. However, no human losses were reported in the attack.

#3: A group of Taliban insurgents attacked a security firm in western Farah province on Thursday, killing 12 people of the company and injuring nine others, police said.

DoD: Cpl. Zachary C. Reiff

War News for Wednesday, November 23, 2011

2011-11-23T03:06:00.000-08:00

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three Iraqi civilians have been injured in an ecxplosive charge blast southwest of Bahdad on Tuesday night, a security source reported on Wednesday. "An explosive charge blew off on the main road passing throuh southwest Baghdad's Hay al-Amil district on Tuesday night, wounding 3 civilians, who were driven to hospital, the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Samarra:
#1: Two gunmen wearing women's clothes stormed a pharmacy and killed the owner late on Tuesday in the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Kurdistan:
#1: Turkey has bombed the Sulaimaniyah and Arbil provinces of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region, wounding one civilian, Kurdish officials said on Wednesday. "The Turkish aerial bombardment was renewed on Tuesday night and the civilian Ismail Baz Hamed, 20, was wounded during this bombing," said Hassan Abdullah, the mayor of the Qalat Dizah area in Sulaimaniyah. "The bombing caused heavy damage to farms and livestock in Qalat Dizah," he said. An official from Kurdistan region's interior ministry said there were also strikes in Arbil province. "Turkish airplanes bombed many areas... in Arbil on Tuesday night," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, at least 14 Taliban militants were killed following clashes with the NATO-led coalition forces in southern Helmand province. Helmand provincial governor office following a statement said, the clashes took place on late Tuesday night. The source further added, the incident took place after a patrol convoy of Afghan and coaliton forces were ambushed by Taliban militants in Zanboli and Mir Mandab area of Greshk district. Provincial governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi in the statement said, Afghan and coalition forces did not suffer any casualties during the incident.

#2:" Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Agency have destroyed at least two NATO oil tankers carrying fuel for US-led foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Officials told Press TV that the armed militants opened fire on the two NATO oil tankers in the Charwazgai area of Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency on late Tuesday. As a result of the shots, both oil tankers were damaged. However, no human loss was reported in the attack.

#3: In a militant attack on the police station in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, gunmen killed at least two policemen and injured five others, including the chief of the police station.

Two policemen were killed and four wounded in a gun and grenade attack by militants at a police station near the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan. Over a dozen militants stormed into the police station before dawn, firing and throwing grenades

#4: Armed militants also killed a prayer leader of a local mosque in Quetta city in southwestern Pakistan.

#5: Three civilians were killed and three others, including a woman and child wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, police said. The bomb was planted under a bridge in Alingar district of Laghman province before it ripped through a civilian van, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang told AFP. "The van was hit by a roadside bomb on a bridge in Alingar, killing three men and wounding three other people, including a woman and a child," he said.

#6: Helicopter gunships attacked militants hideouts in Kurram, a northwestern tribal region on the Afghan border, killing around a dozen militants and wounding 14, local officials said. Four hideouts were destroyed, they said. On Tuesday night, at least 11 militants were killed and six soldiers wounded in clashes the same region. There was no independent confirmation of the death toll. Militants often dispute the government's version of events.

DoD: Pvt. Jackie L. Diener II

War News for Tuesday, November 22, 2011

2011-11-22T03:23:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, November 21st.

NATO is also reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, November 21st.

Iran uncovers CIA informants - Sort of an off topic article but it is about the world wide war on terror and enlightening read if factual. – whisker

China’s news agency Xinhuanet for western audiences has a pictorial on there new stealth fighter plane the J-20. Just in case anyone is interested here’s the link.

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Four Iraqi army personnel were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol in central Baghdad, a police source said.

"An explosive charge blew up close to Diwan Restaurant in Central Baghdad's Saadoun Street on Tuesday morning, wounding 2 policemen, 2 Army men, an Army officer and a acivilian," the Security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that that the injured persons were driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

#2: An Iraqi soldier was killed and a civilian wounded when a bomb attached to a vehicle went off near a security checkpoint in Baghdad's eastern Sadr City district, police and hospital sources said.

Kirkuk:
#1: The body of a government employee was found in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Mosul:
#1: Police shot dead a would-be suicide bomber before he had a chance to detonate his explosive vest at a security checkpoint in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: Armed men killed an off-duty soldier inside his house in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded one soldier when it went off in eastern Mosul, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least four Afghan civilians have been killed and three others wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, Press TVreports. The incident took place in Alingar district of Laghman province early Tuesday.

#2: One policeman was killed when a small bomb exploded outside a girls' school in the northwestern town of Mardan, local police officials said. Three policemen and four bystanders were wounded.

#3: The Pakistani army and Frontier Corps shelled militant positions in central Kurram, near the towns of Dogar and Morghan Sunday night, killing 11 militants and wounding 25, a military official said. In the last week, militants had killed five soldiers and wounded 10 more, the official said. In that same time, around 100 militants had been killed. There was no independent confirmation of the attack, and militants often dispute official government accounts.

#4: Two Pakistani officers and 20 militants were killed when security forces clashed with militants in the Khadezai area of northwestern Orakzai tribal region, security officials said. Officials added that another 15 militants were killed in the same area by Pakistani gunship helicopters brought in to support ground troops.

#5: At least five people including three policemen and two local militiamen were killed in a bomb attack reportedly targeting a convoy carrying Chinese engineers and workers on the way to the work site in the Sui area of Balochistan in southwest Pakistan on Tuesday, reported local Urdu TV channel AJJ, adding no Chinese were killed or injured in the attack.

DoD: Lance Cpl. Joshua D. Corral

MoD: Private Thomas Christopher Lake

War News for Monday, November 21, 2011

2011-11-21T03:41:00.000-08:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED blast in the Jamal Kowi area of the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday November 20th. Here's the ISAF release.

Explosion occurs on railway connecting Uzbekistan with Afghanistan

Army Releases October Suicide Data

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, wounding four civilians, police and hospital sources said.

Two explosive charge blew off in northern Baghdad's Aadamiya district on Monday, wounding 3 civilians, a security source reported. "Two explosive charges blew off under a car of an employee of Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research in Aadamiya district on Monday, wounding him and his sister, who is a lecturer in Baghdad's Islamic University," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A group of unknown gunmen have opened fire Sunday night on the hosue of an Iraqi media man southwest of Baghdad, causing no human losses, according to the Chairman of the Iraqi Society for Defense of Journalists Rights on Monday. "A group of unknown armed men, using a new car, have opened fire on the house of the Iraqi Media Man, Abdul-Munim Nasser, in southern Baghdad's Baya'a district, while he was at home with his family, and escaped for an unknown destination," Ibrahim al-Sarraji told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Diyala Prv:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car exploded, killing a member of the government-backed Sahwa militia, in a town near the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Tuz Khurmato:
#1: Gunmen in a speeding car killed a member of the Kurdish Asaish security force and wounded another late on Sunday in central Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Kirkuk:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a civilian's car exploded, wounding the driver and a passenger late on Sunday in northwestern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: A bomb attached to a car killed the driver in the city of Kirkuk, police said.

A member of Iraq's Human Rights Department in northern Iraq's Kirkuk city has been killed in an explosive charge blast south of the city on Sunday, the city's Police Director reported on Monday. "An explosive charge, stuck to a civilian car in Kirkuk's Celebrations Square, has blown off on Sunday, killing a Human Rights member, Lt-Brigadier Sarhad Saleh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, pointing out that the security forces began investigation in the incident, but gave no further details.

#3: Two Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast in front of a house belonging to a member of the Iraqi Army in Dibbis township, close to northern Iraq's Kirkuk city on Sunday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge blew up on Sunday in central Dibbis township in Kirkuk Province, planted in front of a member of the Iraqi Army, wounding one of his brothers and a passerby, along with causing damage to the house," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday.

Mosul:
#1: Gunmen in a car opened fire on the car of a local office manager for mobile phone operator Asiacell, killing him and wounding another passenger in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Eighteen insurgents have been killed in Afghanistan's Nuristan province in a cleanup operation, an official said Monday. "A joint cleanup operation was launched by Afghan Border Police, Afghan army and NATO-led coalition forces Friday and so far we know 18 insurgents have been killed," provincial governor Tamim Nuristani told Xinhua.

#2: In the meantime, officials in the ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan said, at least five militants were killed and five others were detained in separate operations in southern Helmand and eastern Ghazni province during the past 24 hours.

#3: Assailants torched three trucks carrying fuel for U.S. and NATO forces Sunday in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said. Police official Nazeer Ahmed said four attackers ambushed the trucks in the Mastung district, just south of Quetta, near the border with Afghanistan. He said no one was injured during the attack, as the drivers escaped before the trucks were set ablaze.

#4: At least 14 Pakistani paramilitary troops have been killed in clashes with militants in the country's southwestern Balochistan province, security sources and local media reported on Monday. TV channels reported that the clashes erupted in the Chamalang mountainous area late Sunday night after armed militants attacked the Frontier Corps (FC) troops, which continued until Monday morning. Local TV Ajj reported that 14 soldiers have been killed in the shootout so far. There are no official comments on the casualties. Sources said that 11 FC troops were also injured and the bodies and injured have been evacuated in helicopters. The injured were airlifted to a military hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital.

DoD: Pfc. Adam E. Dobereiner

News of the Day for Sunday, November 20, 2011

2011-11-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

Reported Security Incidents

Hilah

Three women and 1 man are killed in an attack by unknown gunmen.

Ramadi

Gun battle at a checkpoint leaves 5 police and 3 insurgent dead. (The story doesn't specify but I believe this occurred late Saturday. A separate attack on a police station leaves 1 officer dead and 3 injured.

Baghdad, Yusifayah Township

Iraqi security forces say U.S. forces killed 2 Iraqis after an explosion struck their vehicle. According to the report, the Americans opened fire at random, killing 2 civilians and injuring either 3 or 5. According to AFP, a U.S. military spokesman denies that U.S. forces fired any shots at all. According to Aswat al-Iraq, no Americans were injured in the explosion, but they fired on passing cars, causing the casualties. The Iraqi state news service is also reporting this incident.

Other News of the Day

VP Hashemi notes that the Iraqi budget is based on an assumption of continued high oil prices. Should prices fall, the country will face a fiscal crisis.

Stringent security measures are preventing Iraqi refugees from resettling in the U.S. This story is for a Christian publication and emphasizes that many of the people are affected are Christians but that's not really the point. -- C

This analysis by Sammy Ketz notes that Iraq's support for the Assad regime in Syria has secular overtones, and could deepen divisions in Iraq. Iraqi Sunni Arabs sympathize with the Sunni majority in Syria and in the border region, often share family and clan ties. -- C

Afghanistan Update

Loya Jirga approves long-term security pact with the U.S. as proposed by president Karzai. The agreement would have several thousand international troops remain after 2014 as "trainers and advisers."

Students in Jalalabad protest against the long-term U.S.-Afghanistan security pact recently approved by the Loya Jirga.

Meanwhile, no surprise, the Taliban denounce the Jirga as illegitimate.

Four children are killed by an explosion near a playground in Nangarhar. It appears this may have been a mortar shell left over from previous combat, perhaps a long time ago. It is a reminder that Afghanistan has known almost continuous war for decades.

War News for Saturday, November 19, 2011

2011-11-19T03:55:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, November 18th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, November 18th.

Ex-reservist gets 4 years in shooting death

Two Britons killed in Pakistan drone strike

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least 10 persons have been injured during an attempt to dismantle an explosive charge in east Baghdad's Palestine Street on Saturday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge, planted close to al-Kheima Theatre in east Baghdad's Palestine Street, blew up while an Iraqi Army explosives expert attempted to dismantle it. The blast wounded 8 of his colleagues and 2 civilians," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two Afghan police officers were killed in a clash with foreign troops conducting a night raid southwest of the Afghan capital, Kabul, early on Saturday, police and military officials said, adding to Afghan pressure to stop the raids. Saturday's incident happened when the soldiers, who were involved in a night raid which had not been coordinated with the police, ignored orders to halt when spotted by officers in Ghazni province, said Ghazni police chief Zorawar Zahid.

#2: Suspected militants attacked a paramilitary convoy with a remote-controlled bomb in the Jafferabad district of southwestern Baluchistan province, killing two soldiers and wounding three, security officials said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Baluch separatists and Taliban militants have been active in the province and have been blamed for such violence in the past.

#3: Militants ambushed a paramilitary patrol in the Bara area of the northwestern Khyber tribal region, killing one soldier, local officials said. One of the main supply routes for NATO forces in Afghanistan goes through Khyber, where Pakistani forces are conducting operations against militants.

DoD: Spc. Sean M. Walsh

MoD: Lieutenant David Boyce

MoD: Lance Corporal Richard Scanlon

War News for Friday, November 18, 2011

2011-11-18T03:36:00.000-08:00

Two soldiers from the Queen's Dragoon Guards killed in Afghanistan

Afghan boy attacked by Diggers' dog

Three million Afghans face hunger as winter looms

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of November 15, 2011

Reported security incidents

Abu Ghraib:
#1: Two policemen were killed and nine others were injured in three separate bombings in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, security sources said Friday. The back-to-back bombings targeted mosques in the district of Abu Gharib, 20 kilometres west of Baghdad, reported the Iraqi website Al Sumaria News, quoting a security official.

Hawija:
#1: Gunmen shot and wounded an off-duty policeman near his house in Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near the convoy of Police Major Jabbar Rasheed on Thursday, killing him and a civilian in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: A parked car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed a civilian in eastern Mosul on Thursday, a local police source said.

#3: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded a soldier in eastern Mosul on Thursday, a local police source said.

#4: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol wounded a policeman in western Mosul on Thursday, a local police source said.

#5: An attacker threw a hand grenade at an Iraqi police patrol, wounding one policeman, in western Mosul on Thursday, a local police source said.

#6: Gunmen shot and wounded a civilian near his house in western Mosul on Thursday, a local police source said.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Five civilians killed and three injured from one family in bomb blast around the residence of a cop in Saqlawiya, north of Falluja, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that an armed group implanted a number of bombs around the house, 22 km north of Falluja city. The explosion resulted in killing five civilians and injuring three from the same family, while the cop himself was not at home.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A provincial official says a roadside bomb has killed four children and wounded six in eastern Afghanistan. Ahmad Zia Abdulzia, a spokesman for the governor of eastern Nangarhar province, says the bomb exploded on Friday near a playground in Behsud district.

Four children were killed and six more wounded in a mortar blast in Behsud district of Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, on Friday, a spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial governor said in a statement.

#2: Sources said on Friday that five militants were killed and several others injured in a clash during search operation in Nala area of the Bara district of Khyber Agency. They added that seven militants were also killed and over a dozen injured when the gunship helicopters shelled in Central Kurram agency.

#3: A U.S. drone strike killed eight militants, including foreigners, in the North Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border, local intelligence officials said. Four militants were also wounded in the attack.

#4: At least 22 militants were killed in clashes between Pakistani security forces and Taliban militants in a remote district of the Orakzai tribal region in the northwest, local government officials said. There was no word on casualties from government forces. There was no independent confirmation of militant casualties, and militants often dispute official accounts.

#5: Six insurgents were killed and one arrested during three joint operations of the Afghan police, army, National Directorate of Security and coalition forces in Kunar, Nuristan and Uruzgan provinces over the last 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

DoD: Spc. James R. Burnett Jr.

DoD: Pfc. Matthew C. Colin

MoD: Lance Corporal Peter Eustace

War News for Thursday, November 17, 2011

2011-11-17T03:46:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 16th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two more ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, November 17th.

Afghan journalist killed by Taliban roadside bomb

Soldier from 2 RIFLES killed in Afghanistan

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad, gunmen using silenced weapons wounded a police officer who was driving his car in Jamia district in the western part of the capital, the source said.

#2: A roadside bomb went off near a temporary police checkpoint and wounded six people, including three policemen, in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad, police said.

Mahmoudiya:
#1: Iraqi officials say four people have been killed when a car bomb went off next to an Iraqi military patrol south of Baghdad. A police officer says the military patrol was traveling in the town of Mahmoudiya when a parked car bomb exploded near it on Thursday, killing two soldiers and two civilians. He says eight other people were wounded in the attack. A doctor in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualty figures.

Qaiyara:
#1: Police said they found the bodies of a father and his son, shot in the head and chest, in the town of Qaiyara, 290 km (180 miles) north of Baghdad, a day after they were kidnapped from their home.

Tuz Khurmato:
#1: In Salahudin province, a civilian was killed when a sticky bomb attached to his vehicle detonated in the city of Tuz- Khurmato, some 90 km east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, a source from Salahudin's operations commands told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

A bomb attached to a bulldozer went off and killed the driver in central Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Samarra:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded late on Wednesday near an Iraqi police patrol, wounding six people including four policemen, in central Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, a source at the Samarra police operations centre said.

Mosul:
#1: A bomb left at the window of a local mayor's office went off and wounded him in the southern outskirts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A civilian was killed and 13 people were wounded, including two Iraqi soldiers, when a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: Two roadside bombs went off simultaneously near a police convoy in southern Mosul, killing Major Jabar Rasheed Mwlood, chief of a city police station, the source from Nineveh's operations commands told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. A passer-by was also killed by the blasts, which destroyed a police vehicle, the source said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Insurgents fired two rockets Thursday toward a site where more than 2,000 Afghan elders are attending a national assembly to discuss the future of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, officials said. Both rockets missed their target, but one man was injured.

#2: A bomb strapped to a donkey blew up in northern Afghanistan yesterday, killing a policeman and a civilian and wounding 16 people, officials said. The bomb went off in a market in Ghormach district, Faryab province. Although donkey bombs are rare in Afghanistan, they are occasionally used by insurgents as a way of getting close to targets. A spokesman for the Faryab police chief, Sayed Massoud Yaqubi, said that one policeman and a civilian had died in hospital after the attack.

#3: A NATO air strike killed 27 insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday after they opened fire on an international military patrol, officials said. The attack came in Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan where insurgents have hideouts and many of the 10-year war's bloodiest battles take place. "Coalition aircraft killed 27 insurgents this morning in the Nazyan district of Nangarhar province," said a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghanistan. "Insurgents attacked a coalition patrol with small arms and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). Air weapons teams responded immediately. There were no coalition or Afghan civilian deaths reported."

#4: Two rockets fired by suspected separatist militants, targeting a paramilitary post, wounded five civilians in Kohlu district of southwestern Baluchistan province on Wednesday, police said.

DoD: Spc. David E. Hickman

War News for Wednesday, November 16, 2011

2011-11-16T03:43:00.000-08:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 16th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two more ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 16th.

Karzai aims to set limits on American troops

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi officials say two Iranian pilgrims visiting Shiite shrines in Iraq were killed when a bomb went off next to a minibus they were traveling in. Police and medical officials in Baghdad say nine other Iranians were wounded in Wednesday's explosion, as well as eight Iraqis who were nearby. The Iranians were traveling from the northern city of Samarra, which is home to a holy Shiite shrine, to another Shiite shrine in the Kazimiyah neighborhood in Baghdad. They were about 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad when the bomb went off.

#2: The Secretary-General of the so-called "Iraq's Honest Sons Coalition," Abbas al-Mohammadwi, has been injured in an assassination attempt in northern Baghdad's A'athamiya District on Wednesday, according to the Coalition's statement. "During my drive through A-athamiya District, trying to cross al-A'imma Bridge, heading to west Baghdad's Kazimiya District, a guy, disguised behind a newspaper seller, opened fire on me and escaped in A'athamiya streets," Mohammadawi said in his statement, distributed by his brother, who said his Brother Abbas was shot in one of his shouders and was driven to a hospital for treatment.

Diyala Prv:
#1: Early on Tuesday morning, gunmen disguised in military uniforms broke into the house of Sheikh Bashar al-Azzawi, a Sunni Arab tribal leader, and shot him dead in Adhim in the eastern province of Diyala, a source from Diyala's operation commands told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: In a separate incident, three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in Muqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

#3: Also in Diyala, gunmen shot and wounded a former member of the local armed group Awakening Council near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source added.

Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb went off and wounded three civilians late on Tuesday in the town of Rashad, near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen kidnapped a government employee late on Tuesday near the city of Kirkuk, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: US drones on Wednesday fired a salvo of missiles, destroying a house and killing 10 militants in Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal badlands close to the Afghan border, officials said. Four missiles slammed into the compound in the Baber Ghar area of South Waziristan, killing at least 10 militants who were reported to be local Taliban fighters, the Pakistani security officials said.

Suspected U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region killed 18 alleged militants Tuesday night, intelligence officials told CNN. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the suspected drones fired two missiles at different sites in South Waziristan.

#2: Unidentified gunmen have torched two NATO fuel tankers in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, Press TV reports. The gunmen attacked the fuel tankers carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday near the Dasht area of Mastang district of Balochistan, a Press TV correspondent reported.

#3: Five armed insurgents were killed and nine arrested after the Afghan police, army, National Directorate of Security and coalition forces launched four joint and independent operations in Khost, Helmand, Ghazni and Zabul provinces, during the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#4: At least two people were injured when a pick-up car carrying local pro-government militiamen was attacked by a bomb in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency which borders Afghanistan on Wednesday afternoon, reported local Urdu TV channel Express.

#5: At least 20 militants were killed in clashes with the security forces in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency which borders the eastern side of Afghanistan on Wednesday, reported local media. Local Urdu TV channel Duniya quoted anonymous security officials as saying that one troop was also killed and another was three injured in the clashes. The clashes broke out when a group of militants in unknown number launched an attack on an army checkpost in the Murghan area of east Kurram Agency, said the report, adding that the army fought back in retaliation with the help of gunship helicopters.

War News for Tuesday, November 15, 2011

2011-11-15T03:36:00.000-08:00

The AP is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier while conducting military operations in an undisclosed location in central Iraq on Monday, November 14th.

Pentagon shifts drone operation to Turkey from Iraq

French Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

Taliban to regain Swat control: Mehsud

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb went off and wounded three people in central Baghdad, police said.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying a government employee wounded him in Baghdad's eastern district of Zayouna, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded one civilian in Baghdad's central Abu Nawas Street, an interior ministry source said.

#4: A roadside bomb went off and wounded two civilians in Baghdad's southwestern Bayaa district, a police source said.

Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen in a car, using silenced weapons, shot and wounded Omar al-Dulaimi, the head of a journalists' association in Diyala province, in central Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a source at the Diyala operations centre said.

Jbela:
#1: Gunmen shot dead a man near his house on Sunday night in the town of Jbela, 65 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Iskandariya:
#1: Seven rockets landed in or near the U.S. military's Kalsu base near Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding two Iraqi civilians living near the base, a local police source said. U.S military officials confirmed an attack but said there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Qaiyara:
#1: Gunmen opened fire and killed a doctor in his clinic in a village near Qaiyara, 290 km (180 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:
#1: Police said they found the body of a man shot in the head and chest in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol, killing one man and wounding three in western Mosul, police said.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suspected U.S. drone fired missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border early Tuesday morning, killing seven alleged militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike occurred in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, a key hub for Taliban and al-Qaida militants, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

#2: Officials in the ministry of affairs of Afghanistan following an statement on Tuesday said, at least five militants were killed and 12 others were injured following military operations by Afghan security forces during the past 24 hours. The statement further added, the militants were killed following Afghan and coalition forces operations in eastern Nangarhar province, Helmand and Kunar provinces.

#3: In the meantime, officials in the ministry of defense of Afghanistan also announced that Afghan national army forces have launced an operation in eastern Paktia province to clear the militants from the area. The officials in the ministry of defense of Afghanistan further added, the military operation will last for five days, which will focus on various regions of eastern Paktia province.

#4-5: Two soldiers based at Fort Wainwright were killed over the weekend by land mines in Afghanistan, the Army announced Monday. Spec. Calvin Matthew Pereda, 21, died Saturday in Kandahar province from injuries he suffered when an improvised explosive device went off while he and his unit were on a dismounted patrol. Two others in the unit were wounded. Sgt. 1st Class Johnathan B. McCain, 38, was killed Sunday while on a mounted patrol in the Kandahar province. A homemade explosive also injured six other soldiers in the unit, the Army said.

#6: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, a tribal elder and two Taliban militants were killed following clashes in southern Helmand province. The officials further added, the incident took place in Garam Ser district of Helmand province. Provincial governor media office following an statement confirming the incident said, Haji Abdullah Khan a tribal elder was killed in Garam Ser district of southern Helmand province by the armed militants.

#7: One policeman was killed and 17 civilians wounded when a bomb exploded on Tuesday in the Ganj Bazaar region in the Ghormach district of Faryab province, northern Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#8: Pakistani soldiers backed by artillery clashed with Taliban militants in the northwestern Orakzai region on Tuesday, killing 28 militants and wounding 25, government and security officials said, part of an ongoing campaign. Orakzai is one of seven ethnic Pashtun tribal areas where the Pakistani army has tried to root out militants with offensives against their strongholds in the past years. There was no independent verification of the casualties and militants often dispute official figures.

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Johnathan B. McCain

DoD: Spc. Calvin M. Pereda