War News for Friday, May 24, 2013

Pivoting From a War Footing, Obama Acts to Curtail Drones

C.I.A. to Focus More on Spying, a Difficult Shift


Reported security incidents
#1: Police say a suicide bomber walked up to a vehicle owned by an Afghan religious leader in northwestern Pakistan and set off his explosives, killing three people. The leader, Haji Hayatullah, was not harmed in the attack in Peshawar city because he was in a nearby mosque attending Friday prayers. Police officer Riaz Ali Shah says Hayatullah's driver and guard were killed. Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan says a passerby was also killed and two others were wounded.

#2: One driver and his helper were killed, while another was injured, when gunmen opened fire on a convoy of NATO containers in a Khyber Agency. The attack took place in tehsil Jamrud of Khyber Agency, reports The News. Armed men opened fire from the mountains on the convoy, carrying NATO military vehicles after it entered Pakistan from Afghanistan. A police source said two vehicles in the convoy were also damaged in the attack.

#3: At least 15 suspected militants and two security personnel were killed and 18 others soldiers sustained injuries in a clash between militants and security forces in Zarmina area of central Kurram Agency on Thursday. According to security sources, following the clash in central Kurram, jet fighters bombed militant positions, killing 15 suspected militants. Security official said that the injured personnel were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Thal.

#4: Separately in the Bajour tribal region, militants attacked a security check post injuring two Levies men. The power lines were also damaged in an exchange of fire between the two sides, suspending electricity supply in the region.

War News for Thursday, May 23, 2013

Drone strike kills American citizen

Afghanistan’s Karzai Says ‘No Circumstances’ Allow Him to Seek Another Term


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb planted in a rickshaw tore through a vehicle used by security forces in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, police said. The remotely detonated bomb containing around 100 kilos (220 pounds) of explosives targeted a truck carrying members of a government paramilitary force on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province. "At least 12 people have been killed, 11 of them were security personnel," senior police official Fayyaz Sumbal told AFP.

War News for Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Afghan interpreter’s family killed by Taliban near Kandahar

Debate Aside, Number of Drone Strikes Drops Sharply


Reported security incidents
#1: Four militants have been killed and seven others detained in joint operations carried out by Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition troops within the last 48 hours in different parts of Afghanistan. The operations took place in Helmand, Paktia and Wardak provinces.

#2: A relatively heavy explosion rocked Ghazni city in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday morning. Afghan Deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi confirming the report said the incident took place in a bus station, according to Afghan (Khaama Press). Officials in Ghazni state hospital said at least six people killed or injured following the blast have been taken to the hospital and the health condition of a number of individuals injured are critical. According to reports the incident took place after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the bus stop, however local officials are saying it is yet not clear if it was a suicide attack.

#3: A security personnel was killed and five others injured in a blast in Dargai area of North Waziristan Agency on Tuesday. According to sources, some unidentified miscreants planted an explosive device near an electricity pole, which exploded when a team of experts was testing the pylon in the Sawa area of Dargai. As a result, at least six security personnel were injured, while the team of experts remained unhurt. The injured were shifted to a local hospital, where one of them succumbed to his injuries. The pylon was also damaged in the blast.

#4: Local authorities in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan said one civilian was killed and three others were injured following an explosion in Nad-e-Ali district on Wednesday morning. Provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak said the incident took place after an explosive device went off near a private hospital.

#5: In the meantime three Afghan civilians were killed and two others were injured following a roadside bomb explosion in Pusht-e-Rod ditrict of western Farah province. Farah governor spokesman Abdul Rahman zhwandai confirming the report said the incident took place late Tuesday afternoon after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb.

War News for Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Torture Victim’s Body Is Found Near U.S. Base, Afghans Say

Police: Bombings in northern Iraq; 14 dead, many wounded


Reported security incidents
#1: At least seven policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, officials say. The policemen were travelling in the Chashti Shareef district of Herat province when their vehicle was hit.

#2: Meanwhile, a Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan has killed four police officers. Officials say a large number of Taliban fighters attacked several security checkpoints in Helmand province.

Taliban aims victory after NATO pullout from Afghanistan: Azimi

An Afghan provincial official said Tuesday that four Afghan policemen and 26 militants have been killed in ongoing clashes in the country's southern province of Helmand. "Militants numbered hundreds launched armed attacks against police checkpoints in Pirozo and Kolali areas of Sangin district Monday morning and clashes still going on there till now," the provincial government spokesman Omar Zawak told Xinhua. Up to Tuesday morning, four Afghan National Police (ANP) members and 26 militants died and five cops wounded in the clashes, he said.

#3: Eighteen militants have been killed and 22 others detained in a series of operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday. "Up to 18 armed Taliban have been killed and 22 others captured in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces when Afghan National Police (ANP), supported by army and the NATO-led coalition troops, conducted cleanup operations over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#4: Earlier on Tuesday, 13 Taliban militants were killed in two separate blasts when the IEDs they were placing to target security forces went off prematurely in Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province, said Nazifullah Sultanzay an Afghan army spokesman in eastern region.


DoD (updated release): Pfc. Cody J. Towse

DoD: Sgt. Eugene M Aguon

DoD: Spc. Dwayne W. Flores

War News for Monday, May 20, 2013

Imran Khan’s sister says British govt responsible for threats to PTI

Drone strike kills two 'Qaeda militants' in Yemen

Car bombs target Iraqi Shi'ites, killing at least 43


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber has killed at least 14 people in northern Afghanistan's Baghlan province, including a senior local politician, police say. Haji Rasool Khan Mohseni was the head of the provincial council. Police officials told the BBC that an attacker wearing military uniform detonated a suicide vest at the gate of the council's headquarters in Baghlan's capital Pul-e Khomri. At least five people were injured in the attack.

#2: Unidentified gunmen attacked two empty trailers returning from Afghanistan in Jamrud Tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday morning, official and tribal sources said. The sources said the gunmen opened fire on the trucks near Ali Masjid in Jamrud. The trucks overturned and sustained damage as a result of the attack. However, the occupants of both the vehicles escaped unhurt in the ambush, the sources added.

#3: Similarly, three time bombs planted on the Jamrud and Landikotal bypass roads were also defused before it could go off. It was learnt that two water-coolers packed with explosives had been placed on the Landikotal bypass road near the offices of the Communication and Works Department while the other bomb was planted on Jamrud Bypass Road to target the Nato supply line.

#4: Gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team in Bajaur district on Monday, killing a policeman who was providing security, officials said. The attackers opened fire as the team was going to administer polio drops in Kalam town in Bajaur district, one of the seven tribal areas along the Afghan border, local administration official Suhail Ahmed Khan said.

#5: Seven insurgents have been killed in joint operations in eastern Afghan provinces, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Monday. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed seven insurgents, detained four suspected insurgents, discovered two weapons caches and found and safely cleared eight improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The raids were conducted in Khost, Paktiya, Paktika, Nangarhar and Wardak provinces, the release added.

#6: A plane with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) made hard landing in Logar province 60 km south of Kabul on Sunday, a statement of the alliance released here said. "An International Security Assistance Force C-130 had a hard landing in Logar province, Afghanistan today," the statement added. The statement without providing more details stressed that, " There are no casualties, and there was no indication of insurgent activity in the area at the time."

News of the Day for Sunday, May 19, 2013

Police chief Abdul Ghani, who led an anti-Taliban campaign in Farah, is shot dead outside his house by gunmen on motorcycles.

Ten more police are killed in two additional attacks. Attack on a security post in Ghazni kills 6, and a second attack in the same area wounds 4. In Nangarhar, 4 police are killed in an roadside bomb attack.

Clash in Ghazni province said to kill one ANA and 5 rebels.

Taliban said to suppress an uprising against them in Ghor province, unverified claim is made that they have beheaded 15 people.

President Karzai to make 3 day trip to India starting Monday. In a move likely to further inflame tensions with Pakistan, he plans to ask for military aid.

AFP discusses the failure of parliament to ratify the presidential Emergency Violence Against Women decree. Conservative lawmakers objected to the ban on child marriage and more generally argued that it is contrary to Islamic law. The president says he will try to rally support and get the bill passed later.

British documentary examines the state of Afghanistan. "As the US and British forces plan to leave Afghanistan by 2014, 'This is What Winning Looks Like' investigates the current state of the country, shining a light on the disturbing ineptitude of the forces in power, as well as rampant child and drug abuse, suicide bombings, and rising casualties and death rates."

Remember Iraq? David Hirst in the Irish Times does:

[I]n this “democratic” Iraq, one community, the majority Shias – or, more precisely, one man, prime minister Nouri al-Maliki – have emerged just as dominant, within the ruling apparatus, over the other two as Saddam and his Sunnis were in the former, despotic Iraq. Maliki’s is essentially a Shia regime. And though he may be an “elected” ruler, he has turned into not much less of a despot than Saddam himself. Consummate manipulator of the grey areas of constitution and law, he has amassed a positively Saddam-like array of personal powers. 

On April 23rd, there came what may prove to have been a fundamental turning point. Government forces stormed a sit-in in the northern town of Hawija, resulting in 50 deaths, while helicopter gunships bombarded alleged Sunni insurgents in villages roundabout. The operation may have been designed to deter any resort to violence on the protesters’ part by hitting them first – and hard. If so, it had the opposite effect, and what Maliki calls the [Sunni] “sectarian conspiracy” began preparing itself for real war. 

War News for Saturday, May 18, 2013

The DoD is reporting a new death of an ISAF soldier previously unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Trenton L. Rhea died in a drowning incident in a combat situation in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 15th.

 

Family members believe a Utah County soldier missing in action in Afghanistan has been killed.
The family of Cody Towse said they were notified by a military representative Tuesday that their son was standing near an improvised explosive device when it went off, causing a massive blast.

Afghan parliament fails to pass divisive women's law

Blasts Kill Dozens of Iraqis as Sectarian Tensions Boil


Reported security incidents
#1: An official says motorcycle-riding gunmen have shot dead a police chief who led an anti-Taliban campaign in western Afghanistan in front of his house. Abdul Ghani was leaving his driveway in his car when the two raced up and opened fire in Farah province.

#2: Two bombs hidden in a motorcycle and a car exploded inside an elite gated community linked to the family of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday evening, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 70 near the southern city of Kandahar, an official said. The blasts happened inside Aino Mina, a housing complex on the northern outskirts of the city that was developed in part by Mahmood Karzai, the president's younger brother. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but striking inside a powerful symbol of wealth and influence would be a publicity coup for the Taliban insurgency. Both the car bomb and the motorcycle were remotely detonated within minutes of each other while parked next to a restaurant area where families were dining, Kandahar government spokesman Javeed Faisal said. He had earlier said there was only one blast.

#3: Unidentified gunmen killed two Pakistani transporters in Bati Kot area of Afghanistan, some 35 kilometers from the Torkham border, sources said on Friday. They said a trailer (HR-8210) taking armoured personnel carriers was on its way to Afghanistan when it was ambushed at 8:30pm in Bati Kot area near Torkham border. The truck driver, identified as Anwar Khan, son of Zaman, a resident of Manyakhel in Jamrud tehsil, and his helper Tawab, son of Murad Gul, a resident of Mirdadkhel in Landikotal, were killed on the spot. The truck was also damaged in the attack, the sources said.

#4: Taliban militants ambushed a military convoy late Thursday in Pakistan's troubled northwestern city of Peshawar, killing two soldiers, security officials said. The incident took place as the convoy passed through Matani village on the outskirts of Peshawar, the main town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan which is rife with Taliban and Al-Qaeda-led militancy. "Militants opened fire on the military vehicles, two soldiers died and one sustained injuries in the attack," a military official in Peshawar told AFP, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media. A second security official in Peshawar confirmed the attack and told AFP that troops had cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

#5: A roadside bomb struck a tractor in the Yahya Khil district of Paktika province on Saturday, killing a civilian and injuring five others, spokesman for provincial administration Mukhlis Afghan said. "The tragic incident happened in Yahya Khil district at 07:00 a. m. local time and as a result the tractor driver was killed on the spot and five others including a mother and three children were injured," Mukhlis Afghan told Xinhua.

#6: An Afghan border police guard was killed and three others were injured during the first explosion which took place in eastern Khost city of Afghanistan. Provincial security chief Mohammad Yaqoub said around six Afghan civilians were also injured following the blast.


News: Civ. Michael Robert Bradford

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Trenton L. Rhea

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey C. Baker

DoD: Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling

DoD: Spc. William J. Gilbert